Malaria Vaccine Trial in Ghana

More than 1,500 Ghanaians, mainly from Kintampo, are participating in the third phase of a trial to determine the efficacy of the first vaccine for malaria.About 16,000 children in two age groups — six to 10 weeks and five to 17 months are being selected from seven African countries, including Ghana, to take part in the three-year trial.The vaccine RTS,S is currently the most clinically advanced malaria vaccine candidate in the world. The participants will be selected from Kintampo to be part of the study.In an interview in Washington DC, Dr Ashley Birkett of the Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) said results of studies had shown that RTS,S was safe and could reduce the risk of clinical episodes of malaria.On the sidelines of the 58th annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene taking place in Washington DC, USA, Dr Birkett told the Daily Graphic that the RTS,S vaccine could reduce the risk of clinical episodes of malaria in young children by 53 per cent over an eight-month follow-up period and decrease by 65 per cent the risk of infection in infants over a six-month follow-up period.Malaria kills nearly 900,000 people a year, most of them children in sub-Saharan Africa. In Ghana, about 4,500 deaths traceable to malaria are recorded annually and 1,500 children under five die from malaria every year, while 60 pregnant women die every year from malaria.The PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), a global health non-profit organisation working to accelerate the development of malaria vaccines and to ensure their available and accessible in the developing world.He said findings indicate that RTS,S can be safely administered as part of the traditional Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI).Depending on the final clinical profile of the vaccine and the regulatory review process, the first vaccine introduction could take place over the next three to five years.Dr Birkett emphasised that eradicating of malaria would require that the vaccines being developed were used together with existing interventions such as indoor residual spraying, insecticide treated nets and drug therapy.Another vaccine in the offing is being developed with the aim of blocking the cycle of malaria transmission among people in a community.According to Dr Birkett, the transmission-blocking vaccines which was in the early clinical trial stage aimed to interrupt the life cycle of the malaria parasite by including antibodies in humans that prevented the parasite from maturing in the mosquito after it bites a vaccinated person.The transmission-blocking vaccines would not prevent the person receiving the vaccine from getting malaria, but would significantly limit the spread of infection and disease to others.For instance, the MVI is also working with Sanaria Incorporated to develop the malaria vaccine that uses the approach of a weakened form of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for more than 95 per cent of malaria related illness and death worldwide; and the malarial parasite for which there is the most significant drug resistance.The CEO of Sanaria, Dr Stephen Hoffman said the vaccine developed for blocking malaria transmission has been found to be safe and is currently being tested in adult volunteers in the United States
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=179831