SPH's Wirth to Address Congressional Caucus

"Malaria: New Perils and New Promise for the 21st Century" is the topic of a Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus briefing at which School of Public Health Professor Dyann F. Wirth will be the featured speaker.

The event will be held in Room B340 of the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill from noon to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29. Wirth is a professor of tropical public health.

This discussion is part of a series initiated in 1990. The Caucus seeks to support the efforts of congressional committees that have invested in basic biomedical research, predominately through the National Institutes of Health. Since the Caucus's initiation, prominent scientists, including several Nobel laureates, have addressed such topical issues as cancer, heart disease, women's health, cystic fibrosis, gene therapy, effective drug design, and other areas that have led to advances in understanding the cause and treatment of human disease.

According to a 1993 World Bank report, malaria represents a global public health burden, second only to tuberculosis among infectious diseases. More than 2.5 million children die of malaria each year, most of them in Africa. Those who survive can suffer a combination of chronic anemia and immune suppression that leaves them vulnerable to other, fatal illnesses.

There is more human malaria in the world today than at any other time in history. More than 500 million people are infected with malaria worldwide, with one-fourth of the world's population at risk for infection.

Cutting-edge technology has led to the development of new paradigms -- the entire genome of the most important malaria parasites is being sequenced, DNA vaccines are being developed, and tests of methods to prevent transmission by the mosquito are being explored.

For information on the briefing, call (301) 530-7153.