Vaccine protects against malaria in early test

[xchrom]

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/352223/description/Vaccine_protects_against_malaria_in_early_test

The long, bumpy path to a malaria vaccine may have hit a smooth stretch as an early-stage study finds that multiple injections with inactivated malaria parasites can protect against the disease.

The findings are tantalizing but preliminary. The study was small, and the vaccine required five intravenously delivered doses to work, which would be an obstacle for teams attempting mass vaccination in developing countries. Also, the shots were tested in adults, not children, who are the prime victims of malaria.

Still, the study offers decidedly good news, says Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md., which sponsored the research. “This is an important advance,” he says, noting that the vaccine induces an immune onslaught that kills the malaria parasite in its infective sporozoite stage. That means uninfected mosquitoes that bite a vaccinated person wouldn’t get infected, slowing the disease’s spread, he says.

[trotsky]

1. Progress is progress.

Considering how little success has been had in this area, this is cause for celebration.