New experimental anti-malaria vaccine developed

Washington, Dec 23 (UNI) Researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed an experimental vaccine that theoretically could eliminate Malaria from entire regions by killing the parasite rather than limiting it.

The one-celled parasites, Plasmodium falciparum and three closely related species are responsible for causing the disease in humans.

Each parasite lives part of its life in humans and part in mosquitoes. The disease is transmitted to people by the bite of an Anopheles mosquito and can result in severe headache, high fever, chills and vomiting.

The vaccine, tested only in mice so far, would help a vaccinated person's immune system eliminate the parasite directly from the digestive tract of a malaria-carrying mosquito, after the mosquito has fed on the person's antibody-enhanced blood.

Unlike many vaccines, this one eliminates the parasite from mosquitoes rather than protecting a vaccinated person from the disease.

Although several kinds of malaria vaccines are in development and testing, none has yet been licensed for widespread use.

Scientists at the NIH National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, in partnership with researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, developed the vaccine.

Of the four species of the parasite infecting human beings, Plasmodium falciparum is responsible for most malaria deaths, especially in Africa.

In 2004, according to the World Health Organization, the worldwide incidence of malaria was about 300 million cases a year and 1.3 million deaths, mostly among African children.

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