Malaria Control Project Explained

malariacontrol.net
Developer:Swiss Tropical Institute
Released:[1]
Operating System:Cross-platform
Platform:BOINC
Status:Inactive since 21 June 2016
Performance:12.155 TeraFLOPS (2014)[2]
Active Users:7,907 (2014)
Total Users:200,749 (2014)
Active Hosts:29,988(2014)
Total Hosts:545,517 (2014)
Screenshot Caption:malariacontrol.net screensaver
Screenshot Size:250px

malariacontrol.net was a volunteer computing project to simulate the transmission dynamics and health effects of malaria. It was part of the Africa@home project.[3]

History

The malariacontrol.net domain name was first registered on 19 May 2005 under Swiss Tropical Institute.[4] This project was under Africa@home where the latter was conceived and developed by European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). malariacontrol.net was the first to use volunteer computing to model diseases. The model simulates malaria infection in 50,000 to 100,000 people. Each work unit lasted for an hour in average personal computers and the results were returned to University of Geneva for evaluation by researchers.[3] [5] malariacontrol.net ran all the simulations by using stochastic simulation model.[6]

Since 4 November 2010, using the financial support from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,[7] Malariacontrol.net developed an open-source software named "Open Malaria" which can be used to simulate outcomes in various types of malaria transmission settings.[8]

On 21 June 2016, malariacontrol.net announced that the project has been terminated due to financial constraints in upgrading their servers for further volunteer computing operations.[9]

Impact

Over 10 years, malariacontrol.net has produced 30 peer-reviewed articles.[10]

In 2008, among the studies performed were the effectiveness of different types of Malaria vaccines in high and low malaria transmission settings,[11] effectiveness of Sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine in preventive treatment of malaria in infants,[12] and using individual-based stochastic simulations in Plasmodium falciparum control.[13]

In 2012, malariacontrol.net has studied the effectiveness of using RTS,S malaria vaccine in World Health Organization's Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in different malarial transmission settings and reported that such programme only has modest benefits over 14 years period. The study suggested that the RTS,S vaccine should be used in targeted mass vaccination in low malarial transmission settings in order to get the most benefits out of it.[14]

In 2013, malariacontrol.net had examined the effectiveness of Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) and other surveillance tools in detecting malaria infections among high and low Plasmodium falciparum transmissions.[15] The project also recommended that screening the whole human population for malaria before treating them would be more cost effective when compared to indiscriminate treatment of the whole population with antimalarial drugs.[16] Another study also revealed that both Pyrethroid-only mosquito nets and Piperonyl butoxide mosquito nets are cost effective in preventing malarial infections in both Pyrethroid-susceptible and Pyrethroid-resistant mosquitoes.[17]

Reception

As of 2010, malariacontrol.net had about 10,000 active users with 37,002 registered members. Similar to the general BOINC users, malariacontrol.net mainly had a volunteer base of males ranged from 20 to 50 years old, mostly staying in European countries and North America. Most of them learned about this project through BOINC website and their main motivation was the satisfaction of doing something good for the betterment of humankind.[18]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Maire. Migration to new server. malariacontrol.net. 10 June 2017. 19 December 2016. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20160327045109/http://www.malariacontrol.net/forum_thread.php?id=311. 27 March 2016.
  2. Web site: Detailed stats - Malaria Control. BOINCstats. 14 June 2017. 15 October 2014. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20141015012304/http://boincstats.com/en/stats/17/project/detail. 15 October 2014.
  3. News: Lovgren. Stefan. Malaria Battlers Enlist Power of Your PC. 10 June 2017. National Geographic. 8 August 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20140902224121/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060808-malaria.html. 2 September 2014.
  4. Web site: Malariacontrol.net domain information. whois.com. 10 June 2017. 11 January 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220111071411/https://www.whois.com/whois/malariacontrol.net. live.
  5. News: Helen. Pearson. Wanted: computers for a humanitarian cause. 13 June 2017. Nature. 20 July 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20160826162943/http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060717/full/news060717-15.html. 26 August 2016.
  6. Web site: How does MalariaControl.net work?. Africa@home. 14 June 2017. 29 June 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170629144036/http://africa-at-home.web.cern.ch/africa-at-home/malariacontrolnet.html. live.
  7. Web site: Thomas. A Smith. Open Malaria. GitHub. 14 June 2017. 20 April 2017. 10 July 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170710032517/https://github.com/swisstph/openmalaria/wiki. live.
  8. Web site: Open Malaria releases. GitHub. 14 June 2017. 19 July 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170719210639/https://github.com/SwissTPH/openmalaria/wiki/Changelog#schema-version-23. live.
  9. Web site: Maire. Status and plans as of June 2016. malariacontrol.net. 10 June 2017. 21 June 2016. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20160722220548/http://www.malariacontrol.net/forum_thread.php?id=1472. 22 July 2016.
  10. Web site: Publications by BOINC projects - malariacontrol.net. BOINC wiki. 12 June 2017. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20160718041645/http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Publications_by_BOINC_projects#malariacontrol.net. 18 July 2016.
  11. Melissa. A. Nicholas. Maire. Alain. Studer. Allan. Schapira. Thomas. A Smith. What Should Vaccine Developers Ask? Simulation of the Effectiveness of Malaria Vaccines. PLOS ONE. 11 September 2008. 3. 9. e3193. 10.1371/journal.pone.0003193. 18784833. 2527129. 2008PLoSO...3.3193P. free.
  12. Amanda. Ross. Melissa. Penny. Nicholas. Maire. Alain. Studer. Ilona. Carneiro. David. Schellenberg. Brian. Greenwood. Marcel. Tanner. Thomas. Smith. Modelling the Epidemiological Impact of Intermittent Preventive Treatment against Malaria in Infants. PLOS ONE. 16 July 2008. 4. 3. e2661. 10.1371/journal.pone.0002661. 18628828. 2441827. 2008PLoSO...3.2661R. free.
  13. Smith. T. etal. Towards a comprehensive simulation model of malaria epidemiology and control. Parasitology. 11 August 2008. 135. 13. 1507–1516. 10.1017/S0031182008000371. 18694530. 25923103. 28 September 2019. 22 July 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180722174418/http://doc.rero.ch/record/301303/files/S0031182008000371.pdf. live.
  14. Web site: Status update. malariacontrol.net. 14 June 2017. 23 March 2012. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20160327012309/http://www.malariacontrol.net/forum_thread.php?id=1264. 27 March 2016.
  15. Web site: Science update part I: till January 2013. malariacontrol.net. 14 June 2017. 26 July 2013. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20160327034710/http://www.malariacontrol.net/forum_thread.php?id=1351. 27 March 2016.
  16. Web site: Science update part II: till March 2013. malariacontrol.net. 14 June 2017. 30 July 2013. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20160327015443/http://www.malariacontrol.net/forum_thread.php?id=1352. 27 March 2016.
  17. Web site: Science update part III: till June 2013. malariacontrol.net. 14 June 2017. 30 July 2013. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20160327053305/http://www.malariacontrol.net/forum_thread.php?id=1353. 27 March 2016.
  18. Krebs. Viola. Motivations of cyber-volunteers in applied volunteer computing environment: Malariacontrol.net as an example.. First Monday. 1 February 2010. 15. 2. 11 June 2017. 3 April 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170403093734/http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2783/2452/#author. live.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Malaria Control Project".

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