Snow Robert W
Spatial Health Metrics Group, Department of Public Health Research, KEMRI-Welcome Trust Research Program, Nairobi, Kenya.
BMC Med. 2014 Dec 12;12:227. doi: 10.1186/s12916-014-0227-x.
Controversy surrounds the precise numbers of malaria deaths and clinical episodes in Africa. This would not have surprised malariologists working in Africa 60 years ago as they began to unravel the enigma that is 'malaria'. Malaria is a complex disease manifesting as a multitude of symptoms, degrees of severity and indirect morbid consequences. Clinical immunity develops quickly and the presence of infection cannot always be used to distinguish between malaria and other illnesses. During the 1950s and 1960s parasite prevalence was used in preference to statistics on malaria mortality and morbidity. An argument is made for a resurrection of this measure of the quantity of malaria across Africa as a more reliable means to understand the impact of control.
非洲疟疾死亡的确切人数和临床发病情况存在争议。60年前在非洲工作的疟疾学家对此不会感到惊讶，因为他们当时开始揭开“疟疾”这一谜团。疟疾是一种复杂的疾病，表现为多种症状、严重程度和间接的发病后果。临床免疫力发展迅速，感染的存在并不总能用于区分疟疾和其他疾病。在20世纪50年代和60年代，寄生虫流行率比疟疾死亡率和发病率统计数据更受青睐。有人主张恢复这一衡量非洲疟疾数量的指标，作为了解防控影响的更可靠手段。
