Is there a link with deafness in the SI and malaria?

Is there a link with deafness in the SI and malaria?

Posted by : frank short Posted on : 26-Apr-2021

In the last few days I read that there had been an increase in malaria cases in Malaita province compared to the figures available for 2019.

The incidences of malaria got me to recall a letter I read last year in one of the local papers, and I kept it on file, which I will quote.

“Some years ago I read that deaf people in the Solomon Islands were the most neglected of all the disabled in the country. I happen to believe that the situation has not changed much for the better and many children are missing out on school because of their hearing disability. There is known to be a relatively high incidence of deafness in the Solomon Islands due to poverty-related diseases such as malaria, meningitis and rubella.”

Those remarks prompted some fact finding today and I came across a paper simply styled PMID and with research comments by a S.Z. Zhao and I.J. Mackenzie. I will quote what I found had been written about hearing loss implicated with malaria.

Malaria has been implicated as a rare cause of hearing loss in various studies, but recommendations and hypotheses have not been taken seriously or investigated. Searches also returned numerous studies of neurological sequelae after cerebral malaria, a small proportion of which observed hearing impairments on follow-up. However, no attempt was made to distinguish between treatment and disease as the cause. A few antimalarial drug trials which assessed hearing before treatment found unexplained hearing loss which improved with elimination of the parasite.”

“Conclusion: Evidence from this review suggests that the falciparum parasite is a potential cause of hearing loss. Malaria is a disease of such high prevalence that even if only a small proportion of survivors develop this impairment the effects on children's education could be detrimental. More attention should be focussed on investigating this association as the clinical and pathophysiological implications are potentially considerable.”

I have a concern over hearing loss and have tried repeatedly to get free hearing aids for those suffering hearing loss in the Solomon Islands, writing this in March this year,

"I spent some considerable time recently over hearing loss by people in the Salmon Islands and how an offer I raised with the Ear Science Institute in Perth, Western Australia was not pursued arising from a concern by a nurse audiologist at the NRH’s Ear Nose and Throat Department who stopped the proposal to have hearing aids gifted to the death community in the Solomon Islands.

"The concern raised by the audiologist was the ENT Department did not have the means of servicing any hearing aids that might be received.

"The then Medical Superintendent of the NRH, Dr John Hue, felt the opportunity could not be missed to obtain the hearing aids on offer and considered donor assistance should be obtained to built up the capacity and the ability to be able to service any hearing aids offered.

"The gift of hearing aids and the acquisition of donor support for servicing came to a standstill and left me disappointed on behalf of the deaf community, so often having claimed to be the most neglected of those with hearing loss and disability in the country."

Comment.

If there is any truth in malaria being a potential cause of deafness, and the Solomon Islands still prone to malaria, then it would be my suggestion that the government seek the help of international health agencies, such as the WHO, UNDP, or even Save the Children, perhaps also Oxfam, to have the potential link investigated with a view to preventing hearing loss from malaria sources.

I would also request the SI MHMS or the government to pursue the quest for free hearing aids and also obtain donor assistance in building up the resources of the NRH’s ENT Department to be able to adequately service and maintain any hearing aids that might be gifted.

Yours sincerely

Frank Short

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