"These findings represent a significant step forward in malaria vaccine development," says Julius Hafalla, an immunologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. "The ongoing global malaria burden makes the development of more effective vaccines a critical priority."
In humans, the parasites travel to the liver and then infect red blood cells. The parasites were engineered to stop developing shortly after delivery into a human. Nearly 90% of participants exposed to the modified parasites avoided contracting the disease after being bitten by malaria mosquitoes.
The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine on 20 November, exposed participants to bites from mosquitoes that had a modified version of the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, which causes malaria.
There are two approved malaria vaccines. Both aim to provide long-term immunity by producing antibodies that block malaria parasites from infecting liver cells, as well as targeting breakthrough infections.
#malaria-vaccine #genetically-engineered-mosquitoes #immunization-strategy #infection-prevention #public-health
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