Scientists develop a malaria vaccine that works 100%

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Scientists develop a malaria vaccine that works 100% of the time in limited trials

 

 

There was also no known vaccine - until now.

 

For the first time in history, scientists have completed successful human trials of a malaria vaccine that provides 100% protection against the often-fatal disease.

 

Malaria has a devastating impact around the world with 429,000 deaths and 212 million new cases in 2015 alone. 

 

Immunologists have created a vaccine that, in limited trials, offered 100 per cent protection against infection for at least 10 weeks after the final dose.

 

What's more, no severe human side effects were found during the trial.

 

The study, published in the journal Nature, saw 35 humans test the inoculation method. The test subjects were given varying doses of the vaccine and those with the highest doses saw no infections of malaria.

 

"Scientists have been trying to develop a highly effective malaria vaccine for more than a century with thousands of scientists working on it, billions of dollars have been spent and to date there's no licenced malaria vaccine," Stephen Hoffman from biotech company Sanaria, which developed the vaccine, told WIRED.

 

In the work, scientists from the University of Tübingen, Germany, immunised three different groups of people with Plasmodium falciparum sporozites (PfSPZ). These are cells from the malaria-causing parasite and were used to elicit an immune response.

 

The vaccine was delivered by a direct venous inoculation, which caused a higher level of protection in those getting higher doses.WIRED