Editing 51: Malaria

{{comic
| number    = 51
| date      = January 18, 2006 <!-- The comic was released three days earlier on xkcd.com than on LiveJournal (21/1 2006). We use the earliest possible day-->
| title     = Malaria
| before    = <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=1%3A43%20am-,Malaria,-Current%20Mood%3A LiveJournal title</span>]: '''Malaria'''</big></big>
| image     = malaria.jpg
| titletext = The malaria party was David's idea.<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=1%3A43%20am-,Malaria,-Current%20Mood%3A LiveJournal caption</span>]: <small>'''Current Mood:''' ''Credit to David for this one''</small>
}}

==Explanation==
This was the forty-nineth comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[54: Science]], and the next one was [[52: Secret Worlds]]. It was among the [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics]] posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. This comic wasn't published on the same day across both sites, but most of them shared the same posting day. It was released on LiveJournal on January 21, 2006, three days after originally being posted on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]. See the [[#Trivia|trivia section]] below.

This comic humorously considers {{w|pox parties}} as a means of preventing malaria. During these "parties", adults gather their children to deliberately expose them to a communicable disease in order to promote {{w|Immunity (medical)|immunity}}. These parties are based on the fact humans can develop an {{w|adaptive immune response}} after being infected by a communicable disease by producing {{w|antibodies}} that will recognize future infections of the pathogen. For some illnesses, such as {{w|chickenpox}}, this response is particularly effective in reducing the seriousness of future infections in individuals with healthy immune systems. Furthermore, some illnesses, including chickenpox, are also thought to be less severe when the initial infection occurs in childhood, rather than adulthood. So, even though vaccinations remain a safer and more effective means of preventing severe disease, pox-parties may be held under the assumption that children will benefit from contracting an illness (and developing antibodies against it) while they are still young and the disease will be, in theory, less severe. Moreover, because transmission is planned/expected (at least for the 'guests'), those concerned may ''feel'' that they are more prepared to watch for and deal with the illness than if infection had occured during some unpredictable future occasion.

However, there are major differences between {{w|Poxviridae|poxes}} and {{w|Malaria|malaria}} that make the idea of a malaria party especially absurd:

# Unlike poxes, exposure to malaria does not necessarily reduce the risk or severity future infections. In fact, prior infections can actually increase the likelihood of getting malaria in the future. While poxes are caused by {{w|virus|viruses}}, malaria is caused by {{w|protists}} (a type of microorganism) of the ''{{w|Plasmodium}}'' genus. Malarial infection begins in humans when an infected mosquito bites them and introduces ''Plasmodium'' into the person's circulatory system via their saliva. At this point, ''Plasmodium'' will travel to the human's liver where they can mature and reproduce. After which, the pathogens typically return to the blood stream, where they can be picked up by a new mosquito vector. However, ''Plasmodium'' can also establish a dormant form in the liver, allowing malaria to reactivate years after symptoms have resolved and the blood infection has been cleared. Thus, having a malaria party would not be a useful exercise, as attending such a party would only increase the likelihood that an individual would suffer significant illness later on. 
# As mentioned above, malaria is a {{w|mosquito-borne disease}}. Unlike poxes, which can be transmitted between people directly, ''Plasmodium'' are transmitted indirectly through a mosquito vector. While mosquitos do not suffer malarial disease themselves, they can become infected by ''Plasmodium'' when they drink the blood of a human with an active infection. Over the course of a week, the ''Plasmodium'' will then travel from mid-gut of the mosquito to the salivary glands, where it can be introduced to a new human host when the mosquito takes another blood meal. Since it takes approximately seven days for a mosquito to become infectious, the malaria party would have to go on for at least a week to facilitate the transmission of malaria between party-goers. Furthermore, the party-goers would theoretically have to sit around in a room full of mosquitos to accomplish their goal, which also does not sound like 'very much fun.' It is possible that this is what is being represented by the black dots on the ground, which could be interpreted as confetti or the dead bodies of swatted mosquitos. Furthermore, the balloon may be pictured on the ground to indicate that enough time has passed for the helium in the balloon to be exchanged with normal air through diffusion (however, it is likely that, in reality, the balloon would be fully deflated if the party lasted for a full week).

Therefore, the humor of this comic comes from the fact that the party-goers did not anticipate that their plan would be an uncomfortable and ineffective means of simply transmitting malaria between them, let alone preventing it, under-scoring the absurdity of such a party. 

The title text blames [[David]] for the idea, while the original caption just seems to give him credit. He also mentioned David in [[42: Geico]] and [[100: Family Circus]].

===Vaccination===
At the end of the 1990s, a study reported what would turn out to be made-up health threats from MMR-{{rw|vaccines}}, which created an {{w|MMR vaccine controversy}} and lower vaccination rates, even after they were exposed as false. This made {{w|pox parties}} more popular as the "natural alternative." However, even usually-"harmless" diseases like {{w|measles}} can (rarely) have complications and side-effects, up to and including death, which are by far more common and/or more severe than the actual health risks involved in vaccination. In the past 20 years, 2 Americans died from measles, both people with compromised immune systems. Also none, or late immunization, may create an immunization gap through which nearly extinct diseases can reenter a population (see e.g. {{w|Epidemiology of measles}}). If this gap can be closed (or made small enough), it is possible to make a disease extinct. This was actually successfully done with {{w|smallpox}}, and is now attempted with the {{w|poliovirus}} (Causing {{w|poliomyelitis}}, also known as infantile paralysis). A [[XKCD Marks the Spot|comic]] with poliovirus eradication as topic has been released.

==Transcript==
:[Four Cueball-like children wearing party hats, a discarded balloon is lying to the right. There is text above:]
:we had a malaria party
:[And there is text below:]
:but it turned out not to be very much fun.

==Trivia==
For unknown reasons, on January 18, 2006, [[54: Science]] was posted on LiveJournal on the same day that this comic was released on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]. Three days later, on January 21, 2006, this comic was posted on LiveJournal, thus forcing the next two comics ([[52: Secret Worlds]] and [[53: Hobby]]) to be released on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] two days before LiveJournal. Four days later, on January 25, 2006, [[54: Science]] was finally posted on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com], which fixed the date discrepancies and allowed the next comic, [[55: Useless]], to be published on the same day across both sites.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 49]]
[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com]]
[[Category:Comics featuring David]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]