| Clipped from: The Associated Press: Mosquitoes deliver malaria 'vaccine' through bites |
Mosquitoes deliver malaria 'vaccine' through bites
In a daring experiment in Europe, scientists used mosquitoes as flying needles to deliver a "vaccine" of live malaria parasites through their bites. The results were astounding: Everyone in the vaccine group acquired immunity to malaria; everyone in a non-vaccinated comparison group did not, and developed malaria when exposed to the parasites later.
The study was only a small proof-of-principle test, and its approach is not practical on a large scale. However, it shows that scientists may finally be on the right track to developing an effective vaccine against one of mankind's top killers. A vaccine that uses modified live parasites just entered human testing.
| Clipped from: Effective Vaccine For Malaria Possible, Study Shows |
Effective Vaccine For Malaria Possible, Study Shows
ScienceDaily (July 30, 2009) — Scientists in Singapore, The Netherlands and France report that they have developed a novel immunization method that will induce fast and effective protection in humans against the life-threatening malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, which infects 350 to 500 million people world-wide and kills over one million people each year.
| Clipped from: In New Trial, Mosquitoes Spread Malaria Vaccine | Popular Science |
In New Trial, Mosquitoes Spread Malaria Vaccine
Malaria kills upwards of a million people a year, infects hundreds of millions, and significantly damages the economies of dozens of countries. Cures and prophylaxis for malaria range from bug nets to drugs to gin and tonics, but none are weirder -- or more poetically just -- than a new method that uses mosquitoes themselves to deliver a malaria vaccine.
| Clipped from: Ouch: Mosquito Bites Deliver Malaria Vaccine : EcoWorldl |
The Mosquito Bite Study
The study, which took place at Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands, included 15 healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 45. 10 people were in the vaccine group and five in the control group. All 15 were given chloroquine for a three-month period and exposed to mosquito bites once a month for three months.
The vaccine group was exposed to malaria-infected mosquitoes while the comparison group was exposed to non-infected mosquitoes. One month after the entire group stopped taking the drug, all 15 volunteers were bitten by the infected mosquitoes. None of the 10 people in the vaccine group developed parasites but all five in the control group did!
| Clipped from: NEJM -- Protection against a Malaria Challenge by Sporozoite Inoculation |
Figure 1. Study Design and Enrollment.
Immunologic assessment was performed 1 day before the first immunization (day I-1) and 1 day before challenge infection (day C-1). A final challenge with infectious mosquito bites was performed 28 days after the discontinuation of chloroquine prophylaxis.
- The Associated Press: Mosquitoes deliver malaria 'vaccine' through bites
- Effective Vaccine For Malaria Possible, Study Shows
- In New Trial, Mosquitoes Spread Malaria Vaccine | Popular Science
- Ouch: Mosquito Bites Deliver Malaria Vaccine : EcoWorldly
- NEJM -- Protection against a Malaria Challenge by Sporozoite Inoculation
