A new vaccine made by Rockville-based pharmaceutical company Sanaria Inc. received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to be tested in people.

 

The vaccine is made with a live, but weakened, malaria parasite extracted from infected mosquitoes.

 

“For many years, the malaria field has known that the best way to protect against malaria was immunizing by the bite of these infected mosquitoes. But everyone in the field thought it was impossible to manufacture them, and even more impossible to get the FDA to approve it,” Stephen L. Hoffman, chief executive of Sanaria, said.

 

He further added that the vaccine will be assessed in 104 healthy volunteers beginning next month.

 

Malaria can be transmitted only by Anopheles mosquitoes, which must have been infected via a previous blood meal taken on an individual that has been infected. After the bite, the number of parasites increases in the liver, and later on infects red blood cells (RBCs) which carry oxygen. Left untreated, the disease can rapidly trigger death by cutting short the blood supply to vital human organs.

 

Starting the 1970s, many teams of researchers have attempted to develop a successful vaccine able to fight malaria, but no vaccine is available yet. People, especially children under five years of age, who live in tropical and subtropical regions, should take preventive measures such as following drug treatments.