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The War against Malaria
The war to wipe out malaria has
made enormous steps since the announcement that the
genomes of the most dangerous of the parasites causing
the disease and of the mosquito that transmits it
had been decoded.
Simultaneously in early October
2002, the prestigious journals Science
and Nature
published the results of an international effort to
decipher the sequences of those genomes, which is
expected to provide key information for developing
methods to control or cure malaria.
The genomes decoded where those
of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae and of the parasite
Plasmodium falciparum, which in combination produce
the strongest strains of malaria.
Science magazine hailed the results
of the study, as the search for weapons against the
disease is important. At least 40 percent of the world's
population lives in areas where malaria is endemic.
The World Health Organization
(WHO), which has a section
of its website dedicated to information about
this disease, reports that more than 300 million people
are infected with malaria each year, and more than
a million die -- mostly children under age five in
poor countries.
With the passage of time, the
medications used in fighting malaria lose effectiveness,
as the parasite develops resistance.
The search for ways to prevent
the disease has also been complicated. Throughout
much of the 20th century, the strategy was to eradicate
the mosquito vector, but in spite of limited success
in some countries, it was impossible to keep the mosquito
population under control for very long.
Nor has the search for a vaccine
been easy. One of the farthest-reaching initiatives
in this area has been that of Colombian doctor Manuel
Patarroyo,
but no definitive solution has been reached.
The magnitude of the malaria
problem is reflected in the abundance
of websites related to the disease, with some
dedicated to its characteristics, its transmission
vector, or places
on the planet where it is most common. Malaria
OnLine points out that malaria has been around
since ancient times, and in the past also affected
Europe.
And it is a major problem for
the Americas, because in several countries of this
hemisphere malaria is endemic. The Pan-American
Health Organization (PAHO) provides numerous documents
on its website that cover the impact of malaria on
the region.
Science
Magazine: The Mosquito Genome - anopheles gambiae
Nature
Magazine: special edition on malaria
World
Health Organization: Malaria
Pan-American
Health Organization: documents on malaria
Malaria
OnLine (Australia)
Tierramérica:
Dr. Patarroyo and the Drive to Eradicate Malaria
BBC:
Malaria in the world
Yahoo!
Special coverage - a discovery in the fight against
malaria
Hurricane Season
The annual hurricane season brings
with it the fury of nature: a combination of powerful
winds, giant ocean waves and torrential rains that
almost every year leave their mark somewhere in the
Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico or even farther north
along the coast of the United States.
The force unleashed by this meteorological
phenomenon causes reactions that range from alarm
to outright fear. Although hurricanes are inevitable,
society tries to reduce the damage they cause, implementing
preventive measures. One of the most important tools
is information, and the Internet
plays a key role in its dissemination.
In cyberspace there are numerous
websites that track the evolution of hurricanes and
tropical storms in the area of the Atlantic Ocean
where, says webpage Stormcarib,
the season extends from June 1 to November 30.
Information about the nature
and characteristics of hurricanes also abounds,
and the web surfer can also find multimedia applications
that show the behavior
of a hurricane once it has formed.
One of the most complete websites
is the National
Hurricane Center of the U.S. National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which complements
its information with satellite images, recommendations
for action in emergency situations, and an archive
with extensive information about these meteorological
phenomena.
The English word "hurricane"
originates in the name that the Taino Indians, a native
Carib population, gave these powerful storms: hurakán.
According to the definition given
by the website Infoplease,
hurricanes are cyclones in which wind speed surpasses
119 km (74 miles) per hour. Although the term is used
only for such storms in the North Atlantic, the phenomenon
also appears in other parts of the world, and in the
Pacific is known as a typhoon or a tropical cyclone.
The energy produced by the movement
of a hurricane in one day is the equivalent of all
the energy that would be consumed in the United States
in six months, says another hurricane-dedicated Internet
site.
U.S.
NOAA: National Hurricane Center
Puerto
Rico: huracan.net
Stormcarib:
Caribbean Hurricane Network
What
is a hurricane?
Hurricanes:
On-line guide
Encyclopedia
Infoplease: hurricanes
Yahoo!
Special coverage: Hurricane Season
Montreal Protocol on
Ozone
On environmental issues, the
nations of the world seem to have a hard time reaching
consensus, except in the case of the Montreal Protocol,
which has become the symbol of the fact that treaties
can be effective in solving problem created by humanity,
in this instance, the deterioration of the Earth's
atmospheric ozone layer.
The Montreal
Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone
Layer was signed in 1987 and currently some 180
nations have pledged to comply with reduction
targets in the production and use of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbon
gases), halons and methyl bromide, whose presence
in the atmosphere is considered the main cause of
the thinning of the ozone layer.
Coinciding with the World Day
for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, Sep 16, the
preliminary conclusion of a scientific
study (PDF file) about the problem were released.
The experts
say the signatory nations are complying with the Montreal
Protocol and that the ozone layer could begin to recover
by the end of the decade, but warn that continued
compliance with the international treaty is essential.
The problem of the thinning ozone
layer became a public issue in the early 1980s, and
in 1983 world leaders signed the Vienna
Convention, the first legal instrument to promote
actions for preserving the ozone layer. But at that
time, it was not seen as an urgent issue. Just 20
countries participated.
With time, the problem of the
ozone hole that appears regularly over Antarctica
became more widely known. Scientists warned that the
thinning of the ozone layer would allow excessive
ultraviolet rays to reach the Earth's surface, a threat
to all life forms on the planet.
The Montreal Protocol entered
into force in 1989 when 29 countries plus the European
Union, producers at the time of 89 percent of the
ozone-depleting substances, had ratified the treaty.
Today, one of the key aspects
of the Protocol is the participation of developing
countries in meeting the reduction targets. Developing
nations have until 2010 to halt all use of materials
that are damaging to the ozone layer.
In addition to the Ozone
Secretariat of the United Nations Environment
Program (UNEP), the Protocol has given rise to other
entities, such as the Multilateral
Fund, which helps poor countries implement the
technological conversions necessary to replace the
use of ozone-depleting gases.
The United Nations Development
Program (UNDP)
and the World
Bank also have projects oriented in this direction,
towards compliance with the targets established in
the Montreal Protocol.
The
Montreal Protocol, 1987
Vienna
Convention, 1985
UNEP:
Ozone Secretariat
Nations
party to the conventions on protecting the ozone layer
Multilateral
Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol
UNDP's
role in Montreal Protocol
WMO:
Ozone Bulletins
World
Bank and the Montreal Protocol
OzoneAction:
info on the state of the ozone layer, 2002
EPA
scientific study on the ozone layer
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