Japanese research team develops malaria vaccine

 A TEAM of researchers led by a Japanese professor has developed a vaccine that cuts the risk of malaria in humans by some 70%.

According to a recently published article in the US journal PLOS One, if the vaccine is put to practical use the number of deaths caused by the mosquito borne disease is expected to decrease markedly. At present, no anti-malarial vaccine is commercially available.

Data from the World Health Organisation states that about 660,000 people, mainly infants, die of the disease worldwide every year. 

There are medicines to prevent the disease and treat patients but parasite resistance to anti-malarial drugs is increasingly becoming a problem.

The vaccine developed by the team led by Prof Toshihiro Horii of Osaka University’s Research Institute for Microbial Diseases is called BK-SE36. 

The dry powder vaccine is injected after it is dissolved in water. 

In Japan, its safety was confirmed in a clinical trial in 2005. 

A trial carried out in Uganda between 2010 and 2011 found no abnormalities such as unusual immune reactions in subjects.

Twenty-one of those not vaccinated were infected with malaria within one year compared to only seven in the vaccinated group. Taking some other factors into consideration, the vaccine lowered malaria risk by 72%. 

The vaccine far outperformed the 31% risk decline achieved by a different new vaccine developed by a British company and is now going through a clinical trial. 

“We want to put (our vaccine) to practical use in five years after conducting a clinical trial on infants between zero and five who account for the bulk of malaria deaths,” Horii said.