Results from malaria vaccine trials have also shown promise; an experimental vaccine against malaria may prove to be a powerful weapon in the fight against one of the world’s biggest killers. Infectious disease experts agree that there is an urgent need for a malaria vaccine.

 

Worldwide malaria is one of the most serious infectious diseases, killing almost 1 million people, mostly African children, and sickens about 2 million others every year, according to estimates from the World Health Organization. Most of the deaths are among children younger than 5 in sub-Saharan Africa, the population that the vaccine targets.

 

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.

Contracting the disease can be prevented by using mosquito nets and insect repellent, as well as through mosquito control measures such as spraying insecticides inside houses and draining eliminating water where mosquitoes reproduce.