Clarity comments on Open Thread, Jun. 15 - Jun. 21, 2015 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: Gondolinian 15 June 2015 12:02AM

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Comment author: James_Miller 16 June 2015 09:16:59PM 9 points [-]

By some estimates around "one out of every two people who have ever lived have died of malaria." This just might be contributing to the medical community's interest in malaria.

Comment author: Clarity 17 June 2015 06:48:29AM *  2 points [-]

this was an unhelpful comment, removed and replaced by this comment

Comment author: Douglas_Knight 17 June 2015 07:04:34PM 2 points [-]

Falciparum (the bad kind) only crossed into humans 5000 years ago (historical time!). But it used to be worse, before the evolution of sickle cell and other defenses (O+ Duffy negative blood, I think). Vivax crossed into humans 35 kya and was probably as bad or worse than falciparum before it evolved to be less virulent.