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Malaria vaccine
Works in kids too;
Successful Malaria Vaccine Also Proves Effective in Infants
New data shows that the RTS,S vaccine is safe and effective in infants
By David Biello
A baby born in sub-Saharan Africa faces a lifetime of health risks, but none more challenging than surviving its first five years. A major reason for that is malaria, a parasitic disease spread by mosquitoes. Of the more than one million malaria deaths worldwide annually, roughly 90 percent are in children under five years of age and as many as 50 percent of the severe cases occur in babies under 18 months of age. But new results indicate that a vaccine previously shown to be safe and effective in adults and small children can also be safely administered to infants, potentially dramatically decreasing their risk of contracting the disease.
"In endemic areas, and particularly in the high-transmission areas of sub-Saharan Africa, children under one year of age carry a disproportionately high burden of disease," says physician Pedro Alonso, director of the Barcelona Center for International Health Research at the Hospital Clinic of the University of Barcelona, who led the new clinical trial. "You need to get to them and protect them as early as possible."
New data shows that the RTS,S vaccine is safe and effective in infants
By David Biello
A baby born in sub-Saharan Africa faces a lifetime of health risks, but none more challenging than surviving its first five years. A major reason for that is malaria, a parasitic disease spread by mosquitoes. Of the more than one million malaria deaths worldwide annually, roughly 90 percent are in children under five years of age and as many as 50 percent of the severe cases occur in babies under 18 months of age. But new results indicate that a vaccine previously shown to be safe and effective in adults and small children can also be safely administered to infants, potentially dramatically decreasing their risk of contracting the disease.
"In endemic areas, and particularly in the high-transmission areas of sub-Saharan Africa, children under one year of age carry a disproportionately high burden of disease," says physician Pedro Alonso, director of the Barcelona Center for International Health Research at the Hospital Clinic of the University of Barcelona, who led the new clinical trial. "You need to get to them and protect them as early as possible."
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