Tuesday November 3, 2009, 2:38 pm
""Malaria is one of the deadliest sicknesses for children," the nurse said — words that sent the young mother into a crumpled heap on the bed beside her wide-eyed baby boy, wrapped in a blue-and-yellow floral blanket.

There is new hope, however, in this verdant area where President Barack Obama's relatives live. A vaccine that appears to be able to prevent the disease in about 50 percent of children, is now undergoing the final stage of testing.

If regulators determine the vaccine is safe, it could be on the market in three to five years — the first vaccine against a human parasite."

Read more and see video at site..

Wednesday November 4, 2009, 1:11 am
HALLELUIA!!!! Malaria is horrendous!!!!!! And, it is slowly spreading out of Africa. It used to be very prevelent in the USA in olden times~~~

Wednesday November 4, 2009, 4:19 am
Thannnnxxx. this is a dreadful disease... my son nearly died from malaria which is caught in Mozambique... so pleased to hear there is something now on the horizon

Thursday November 5, 2009, 3:25 am
I hate to sound contrary on this, but isn't this the vaccine the Gates Foundation has voiced their support for? The vaccine is made with genetically modified bacteria. I, for one, am very apprehensive about the eventual results of vaccinating people with this..........could be short term gain for long term pain. I can't wait to see the 'unbiased' peer reviews on the test results.

Thursday November 5, 2009, 11:27 am
Yes.. Karen it is..and I do have the same concern as you do..however..Africa is the hotbed of malaria..and it's not only greatly impacting the health of the indigenous people..it's also an economic problem as well..because it reduces productivity..a country's productivity is reduced and its wealth is reduced..and everyone suffers because their population is malarial..These people are suffering deeply in so many ways..And the problem is just getting worse..And if there is any promise and hope for these people in this vaccination..well I am then for it..

Thursday November 5, 2009, 11:28 am
"Unlike other vaccines in the pipeline, which are designed to protect individuals who have been bitten, this one aims to sabotage the life cycle of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium, by stopping it from passing back from humans to mosquitoes.


To create the vaccine, Kumar's group used genetically modified bacteria to make proteins identical to some of those involved in the parasite's sexual development. They injected the proteins into mice and baboons, which generated antibodies. When the team added Plasmodium gametes to blood samples from these animals, the antibodies bound to and blocked the proteins. If a mosquito sucked up some of this blood it would still get a bellyful of the gametes, but they would be unable to combine and spawn new adult parasites.

One shot of the vaccine led to a 93 per cent reduction in malaria transmission, and the figure went up to 98 per cent after a booster shot

This could be used alongside another vaccine being developed by GlaxoSmithKline, called RTS,S/AS02A, which blocks Plasmodium transmission from mosquitoes to humans. By attacking the parasite's life cycle at two points, it may even be possible to wipe out malaria. "If this vaccine is as promising in clinical trials as it has been in this study, then it may prove to be an important part of an integrated disease-control strategy aimed at eradicating Plasmodium," says Andrew Read of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, who works on the ecology of infectious diseases.

Kumar admits that getting the vaccine approved will be a long process, but hopes that human trials can start by 2012. Vaccine approval is a priority as existing methods of controlling the disease are under threat. In May, researchers reported that some Plasmodium strains in Cambodia are developing resistance to our best antimalarial drug, artemisinin, while mosquitoes are becoming resistant to pesticides."

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327213.800