Coast trial to tackle malaria

A WORLD-first malaria vaccine developed in Queensland could help eradicate the deadly tropical disease, under a $1 million trial backed by the federal government.

The vaccine, the first to use whole parasites, is being tested on 30 volunteers at Griffith University on the Gold Coast.

Under a funding boost to be announced today, the Federal Government will tip $500,000 into the study to match funds raised by the Rotary Club.

The extra money will allow the trial to be completed by the middle of next year and could see it then tested in endemic countries in a bid to wipe out the disease which kills more than 435,000 people a year.

The disease, which is caused by malaria parasites, causes symptoms including fever, shivering headaches and chills. It can be deadly, especially to children, pregnant women and patients with compromised immunity.

About 219 million people are infected with the disease, with the number rising each year in some parts of Africa, Asia and South America.

More than 400 Australians acquired the disease overseas last year, according to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.

Current antimalarial medicine may not prevent the mosquito-borne parasite, which has proven able to adapt to different drugs.

Preventive medicines also require regular tablets and can cause side effects.

But the Queensland researchers are developing an injection which they hope to be more effective longer-lasting.

Under the trial, at Griffith University’s Institute for Glycomics on the Coast, volunteers are given three intravenous injections of the vaccine over three months and then tested to see if they have developed immunity.

“We administer three doses of the vaccine to volunteers, people who have never had malaria, and then we actually give them a deliberate infection with the parasite to see if they are protected,” Senior Research Fellow Danielle Stanisic said. and much

THIS NEW APPROACH WILL DIFFER BY USING THE ENTIRE MALARIA PARASITE TO DEVELOP THE VACCINE AND HOLDS GREAT PROMISE HEALTH MINISTER GREG HUNT

If the trial is effective, the drug will then be tested in larger numbers of people in a malaria endemic area, most likely in Asia or Africa, Dr Stanisic said.

Health Minister Greg Hunt, who will today announce funding for the clinical trials, said the new drug was an encouraging development in the global fight against the disease.

“There have been many research efforts to control malaria through vaccine development, but they tend to be only partially effective,” Mr Hunt said.

“This new approach will differ by using the entire malaria parasite to develop the vaccine and holds great promise.”