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| | A vaccine that can prevent the malaria parasite from infecting people is in the final stages of development at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute.
Heading the research team is Mathura-born Professor Nirbhay Kumar, who joined Johns Hopkins in 1986 and has been working on the subject for 20 years.
“This fast-acting vaccine targets the malaria-causing parasite inside the mosquito and blocks transmission to humans. This concept puts no pressure on the parasite to change its antigen type and become resistant to the vaccine,” says Dr Kumar, a professor in the institute’s department of molecular microbiology and immunology.
The vaccine has been found to be very effective in mice and monkeys. A field site is being prepared in Zambia to begin human trials later this year. “The vaccine acts by reducing the potency of the parasite within the first few hours of the mosquito biting a vaccine-protected person.
When given to everyone living in an area with frequent malaria outbreaks — such as the northeastern states, Jharkhand and Orissa — the vaccine not only protects vaccinated individuals by making the symptoms milder but also reduces malaria transmission in the community,” says Kumar.
Earlier this week, Kumar’s colleagues announced that they had created GM mosquitoes that could not pass on the plasmodium parasite that causes malaria in people.
While anti-malarial drugs, insecticide-treated bed nets, insecticides like DDT and other mosquito vector control measures are used to control or reduce the impact of malaria, the widespread drug resistance of the parasites and insecticide resistance of mosquitoes have been a roadblock.
The biggest challenge, says Kumar, is to outsmart the parasite that has been preventing humans from stopping transmission. “The malaria parasite undergoes extensive developmental changes in humans and in the mosquito vector that transmits the parasite.
"This ensures continuous evolution of genetic diversity in the parasite population and spread of anti-malarial drug resistance,” he says.
Malaria is prevalent in 90 countries and affects 40 per cent of the world’s population. In Africa alone, it kills a child every 30 seconds. According to the World Health Organisation, it kills 15,000 people in India every year, thought the officially recorded number is as low as 1,000.
“Apart from causing death, malaria can be a severely debilitating disease that can sap productivity by keeping people from work and children from school for weeks,” says Kumar.
In India, a vaccine developed by scientists at the New Delhi-based International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology is ready for human trials, which will also begin later this year.
Email author: sanchitasharma@hindustantimes.com |
