The BBC reported last week that trials of a new vaccine for Malaria are now underway in the African nation of Gambia. The vaccine has already been tested in small trials held in Great Britain which were successful, but this will be the first widespread test of the vaccine in a country with a high prevalence of malaria.
There have been other vaccines to attack malaria, but they all relied on killing the malaria parasite before it infected the cells of the body. The new vaccine, however, incorporates portions of the malaria parasite’s DNA structure and is able to target the disease when it has already infected cells.
If the Gambia trial proves successful, the vaccine could become available for widespread inoculation within 5 to 10 years.
Source:
Malaria vaccine goes on trial. The BBC, September 18, 2000.