This false-colored electron micrograph shows a malarial sporozoite migrating through the cytoplasm of midgut epithelia of a mosquito. (Image from Wiki Commons.)
My last story published in 2009 is about research at the Univ. of Florida on computer modeling aimed at helping policy makers figure out whether to “go” for malaria elimination in countries with low levels of endemicity hanging out at around 1 percent.
My favorite part of the story was interviewing Dawit Woldu, a young man profiled in the lede. A native of Eritrea, he endured exposing himself to a deadly form of malaria in order to have a chance at an education. He is now a PhD candidate at UF. The story starts like this:
As a teen, Dawit Woldu and some friends had to walk 25 miles from their village in the east African country of Eritrea to take a high school entrance exam, their excitement tempered by fear about contracting deadly malaria. “Growing up, you just knew not to go to this area,” Woldu recalls. “But it was the only way to get into high school. This was the only testing site in the whole province.”
After seeing a slice of Woldu’s life, the story follows the research of two scientists who are using bio-informatics tools, geography and satellite imagery to build a model designed for policymakers. Read the rest of Woldu’s story here.
