You can develop partial immunity from episodes early in life…but if you have not been exposed, then the infection could lead to severe malaria, and cause anemia and other serious problems, and it kills. Hamer: The three major pillars for malaria control are bed nets treated with insecticide, insecticide on the walls of dwelling, and having access to effective treatment. The most widely used treatment is called artemisinin-based combination therapy, or ACT, which is a family of drugs developed from a Chinese herb over 1, years old.
It is still amazingly effective on all strains of malaria, though it has shown some drug resistance in South Asia.
Between and , ACT became the first-line treatment for malaria in every country in Africa that has intense transmission. Hamer: The biggest way safety is determined is through controlled clinical trials. The [vaccine developers] then chose three countries—Kenya, Malawi, and Ghana—to test real-life effectiveness in a pilot program starting in Hamer: I think this is going to be an additional tool that is going to help us reduce deaths and illness. I have a couple of concerns, and I think we need to look at using this in conjunction with other innovative approaches that researchers have been studying.
I want to see more of their results from the pilot study to learn more about the safety profile. Hamer: This is a vaccine that uses an adjuvant—which is a substance that strengthens the quality and intensity of the immune response. This adjuvant is extracted from a certain type of tree only found in Chile.
Since extracting it from these trees is the only source, it raises the question, are they going to be able to produce the amount of doses needed if countries accept this into their regular vaccine program? Hamer: Countries are going to need to decide if the effectiveness is worth the added benefit. I think a lot of countries that have very intense transmission rates will probably seriously consider it.
That requires funding in countries that are considering adding it to their national vaccination programs for it to become widely available. The work for other malaria vaccines will continue, and it [will be] exciting to see which countries will take this up in their national vaccination programs.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Jessica Colarossi is a science writer for The Brink. She graduated with a BS in journalism from Emerson College in , with focuses on environmental studies and publishing. While a student, she interned at ThinkProgress in Washington, D. Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation.
Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours EST and can only accept comments written in English.
RTS,S malaria vaccine has proved to enhance the production of protective antibodies upon subsequent parasite infection. By preventing or significantly decreasing the load of parasites emerging from the liver, vaccination with RTS,S reduces the rates and severity of clinical malaria disease.
By inducing the immunity, the vaccine breaks the cycle of malaria parasite between humans and mosquitoes. Thus the vaccines is a tool to reduce the mosquito infection and malarian transmission.
Powered by. Sponsored by. Many candidate malaria vaccines try to help the body target and destroy the parasite at the pre-erythrocytic stage, including RTS,S, the existing malaria vaccine.
If the body can learn to recognize and have an immune response to the parasite at this stage, it can prevent it from multiplying in the liver, entering the blood, and causing symptomatic malaria.
Fortunately, modern vaccine researchers have a lot more tricks up their sleeves. Targeting a single protein can produce better-targeted and more consistent immunity than exposing the body to the whole disease agent. Protein-based vaccines are generally understood to need an adjuvant, because the body will not necessarily react to unfamiliar proteins by mounting a full immune response.
Something people have strong reactions to. As long as the body finds it irritating and mounts an immune response, it can function as an adjuvant. Matrix-M is a proprietary invention of Novavax, also used in its highly effective Covid vaccine.
This research has been in the works for years. In , a trial was conducted in healthy adults in the UK, looking at the R21 vaccine alone and with the Matrix-M adjuvant. After success in the UK, another trial in healthy adults followed — this time in Burkina Faso, where malaria is endemic. Once that early research was established to be safe, the research team began conducting studies in steadily younger cohorts. Once the vaccine was determined safe, research began in 5- to month-old babies in Nanoro, Burkina Faso.
Phase 3 trials begin right away at five sites across Africa, in order to test how the vaccine works in areas with different malaria prevalence. Malaria infection causes long-term problems including cognitive impairment , and likely has long-term developmental impacts on children even when they survive it. The world has done a lot over the past few decades to fight malaria. Interventions like insecticide-treated bed nets and seasonal preventive treatment in the form of medications have driven death rates down from around 1 million every year as recently as the s to around , today.
Researchers know that, and malaria vaccine research is one of the most active areas of vaccine research, with human challenge trials in the UK meaning clinical trials where volunteers are deliberately infected with the disease , phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials throughout areas with high malaria prevalence, and other promising ideas being pursued based on encouraging results in mice.
Now, all that effort is starting to pay off. This latest development is worth celebrating. And if it fills you with optimism about the prospects of a world where vaccines inch us closer to eradicating diseases that have long plagued humanity, it should. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding.
Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. Please consider making a contribution to Vox today to help us keep our work free for all. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.
0コメント