Researchers found that by dosing study participants with a weakened, early developmental form of the parasite responsible for transferring malaria, they could trigger immunity to the disease for as much as a year in adults. Previous studies reported malaria vaccine effectiveness lasting for at least a few weeks.
“These results are really important,” Kirsten E. Lyke, MD, a researcher at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, said in a statement. “Malaria has such a devastating effect on children, especially in Africa. This vaccine has the potential to help travelers, military personnel and children in malaria-endemic areas.”
After being inoculated, participants were bitten by mosquitoes carrying the full-blown version of the same strain of parasite used in the vaccine. Overall, more than half of the participants who received a vaccine and were subsequently bitten were protected from developing malaria for up to a year. The protected participants were also unable to transmit the disease during that time.
The results of the Phase 1 trial are published in Nature Medicine.
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