Despite the number of cases and attributable mortality having become reduced, malaria continues to be an important public health problem. This report presents some examples of epidemiology’s contribution to malaria control; it also motivates reflexion to the contrary, i.e. malaria’s contribution to the development of epidemiology. Attempting to identify methods for measuring epidemiology’s contribution to malaria control led to an in-depth analysis of what exactly does epidemiology consist of, whether all its contributions could be considered positive and to what extent they might have been due just to epidemiology.

A pesar de la disminución en el número de casos y la mortalidad atribuible a la malaria, esta sigue siendo un problema mundiale importante de salud pública. Este reporte, presenta algunos ejemplos de la contribución de la epidemiología al control de la malaria y también motiva a una reflexión en el sentido contrario, de la contribución de la malaria al desarrollo de la epidemiología. El intento por buscar métodos, dentro de la misma epidemiología, para (auto) medir su contribución al control de la malaria conduce a análisis más profundos sobre qué es la epidemiología, si todas sus contribuciones han sido positivas y que tanto pueden ser atribuibles sólo a ella.

RESUMEN A pesar de la disminución en el número de casos y la mortalidad atribuible a la malaria, esta sigue siendo un problema mundiale importante de salud pública. Este reporte, presenta algunos ejemplos de la contribución de la epidemiología al control de la malaria y también motiva a una reflexión en el sentido contrario, de la contribución de la malaria al desarrollo de la epidemiología. El intento por buscar métodos, dentro de la misma epidemiología, para (auto) medir su contribución al control de la malaria conduce a análisis más profundos sobre qué es la epidemiología, si todas sus contribuciones han sido positivas y que tanto pueden ser atribuibles sólo a ella.

ABSTRACT Despite the number of cases and attributable mortality having become reduced, malaria continues to be an important public health problem. This report presents some examples of epidemiology’s contribution to malaria control; it also motivates reflexion to the contrary, i.e. malaria’s contribution to the development of epidemiology. Attempting to identify methods for measuring epidemiology’s contribution to malaria control led to an in-depth analysis of what exactly does epidemiology consist of, whether all its contributions could be considered positive and to what extent they might have been due just to epidemiology.

In order to evaluate the presence of specific IgG antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in patients with clinical manifestations associated with Lyme borreliosis in Cali, Colombia, 20 serum samples from patients with dermatologic signs, one cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sample from a patient with chronic neurologic and arthritic manifestations, and twelve serum samples from individuals without clinical signs associated with Lyme borreliosis were analyzed by IgG Western blot. The results were interpreted following the recommendations of the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) for IgG Western blots. Four samples fulfilled the CDC criteria: two serum specimens from patients with morphea (localized scleroderma), the CSF from the patient with neurologic and arthritic manifestations, and one of the controls. Interpretation of positive serology for Lyme disease in non-endemic countries must be cautious. However these results suggest that the putative "Lyme-like" disease may correlate with positivity on Western blots, thus raising the possibility that a spirochete genospecies distinct from B. burgdorferi sensu stricto, or a Borrelia species other than B. burgdorferi sensu lato is the causative agent. Future work will focus on a survey of the local tick and rodent population for evidence of spirochete species that could be incriminated as the etiologic agent.