'Milestone' for child malaria vaccine

[Nehkara]

'Milestone' for child malaria vaccine

Experts say the world's first malaria vaccine could be approved for use in 2015.

Reporting in PLOS Medicine, researchers found that for every 1,000 children who received the vaccine, an average of 800 cases of illness could be prevented.

And in continuing trials it went on to provide protection some 18 months after the injections were given.

Manufacturers GSK have now applied for regulatory approval - making this the first vaccine to reach this step.

Malaria affects millions of people worldwide and results in 800,000 deaths each year - the majority in children under five who live in sub-Saharan Africa.

This is a big step. Malaria is thought to have possibly been the cause of death for roughly half of the people who have ever lived.

[Knut]

http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicin...l.pmed.1001685

^ here is a brief look at the actual study.

Great news all around, but some work to do still.

These and other findings show that, during 18 months of follow-up, vaccination of children and young infants with RTS,S/AS01 prevented many cases of clinical and severe malaria and that the impact of vaccination was highest in regions with the highest incidence of malaria. They indicate, as in the earlier analysis, that the VE against clinical and severe malaria is higher in children than in young infants and suggest that protection wanes over time.

Also there were some reported cases of meningitis in those that received the vaccine. It was successful enough to reduce the number of cases significantly though.