Why is approval of the malaria vaccine a turning point? [WE EXPLAIN]

The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the world’s first malaria vaccine. – This is a historic moment for science – said the head of the organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Why is it so important? If only because of the fact that so far no effective way has been found to contain the disease, which kills several hundred thousand people every year, mainly children.

1. A vaccine against malaria called Mosquirix was developed by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline as early as 1987, but only now has it received authorization
2. Several times more people (384) died from malaria in Africa last year than from COVID-19 (official figures say 121 deaths). It was mostly children
3. The massive use of insecticide-impregnated mosquito nets, preventive treatments and indoor spraying have significantly reduced the number of malaria deaths since 2000, but the effects of these measures have been declining in recent years
4. Why is WHO approval of the first malaria vaccine a big deal
5. More current information can be found on the Onet homepage

Malaria vaccine approved

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced it had approved the first malaria vaccine. This happened after the promising results of a pilot study conducted since 2019 involving hundreds of thousands of children in various parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

A vaccine called Mosquirix is ​​produced by GlaxoSmithKline. The preparation by 30 percent. reduces the risk of a severe course of the disease. This is less than you might expect, but it is to be glad that it will reduce the death rate to some extent.

The WHO recommendation is a step forward in the fight against one of the most deadly infectious diseases. Now African countries should introduce the vaccine into their childhood immunization programs. Importantly, work is still ongoing to improve the Mosquirix. Perhaps the world will soon reduce significantly the dramatic human toll of malaria.

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– This is a historic moment. We have a long-awaited vaccine for children against malaria. This is a breakthrough in science, as well as in the topic of children’s health and disease control, said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

‘This is a huge breakthrough from a scientific point of view, and a historic feat from a public health perspective,’ said Dr Pedro Alonso, director of the WHO’s World Malaria Program. “For over 100 years, we have been looking for a malaria vaccine that will save lives and prevent African children from becoming ill,” he added.

There is already a vaccine against malaria – what does that mean?

In clinical trials, the Mosquirix vaccine was 40 percent. prevented the appearance of infection and in 30 percent. prevented the onset of a severe course of the disease. Compared to other vaccines given to children, the effectiveness is much lower. By comparison, the measles vaccine is 97% effective, and the varicella vaccine prevents 85%. cases and almost 100 percent. severe cases.

However, malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people each year, and even a partially effective vaccine can save lives. A recent study simulating the effects of Mosquirix’s widespread introduction has shown that when the vaccine is given to 30 million people a year, “5,3 million cases of infection and 24 lives could be avoided. deaths “.

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The vaccine is given as a series of four injections – three one month apart and a fourth one a year later. The effectiveness of subsequent booster injections is also tested. With over 2 million vaccines administered so far in pilot programs, very few serious side effects have been reported, so the vaccine’s safety profile looks good. The vaccine is also relatively inexpensive, costing around $ 5 per dose.

WHO approval alone does not provide wide access to vaccines. Now, the next step, according to the WHO, should be “funding by the global community for a broad vaccine implementation program and national decisions to administer the vaccine as part of national malaria control strategies”.

Malaria – how dangerous is this disease?

Malaria (malaria) is considered to be one of the most dangerous diseases transmitted by parasites to humans. The disease is caused by Plasmodium parasites. Parasites are transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes, known as “malaria vectors”. There are five species of parasites that cause malaria in humans, and two of them – P. falciparum and P. vivax – pose the greatest threat.

Malaria causes fever and chills, and in severe cases, anemia, seizures and breathing problems.

According to a WHO report on the disease, there were 2019 million cases of malaria worldwide in 229. 409 thousand died people. In 2018 it was 228 million and 405 thousand, respectively, while in 2017 – 231 million and 416 thousand.

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The data for 2020 says about 384 thousand. victims in Africa itself. The African region still accounts for a disproportionate share of the global malaria burden. In Africa, there are 94 percent. all illnesses and deaths.

In 2019, infections in the following countries accounted for more than half of all malaria cases worldwide:

1. Nigeria (23 proc.)
2. Democratic Republic of the Congo (11%)
3. Tanzania (5 proc.)
4. Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Niger (4 proc.).

Children under the age of 5 are most at risk of malaria – in 2019, they accounted for 67%. (274) of all malaria deaths worldwide.

Malaria in Poland

Until 1968, there was native malaria in Poland, or “malaria”. – It performed in the vicinity of the Vistula Spit and in some parts of the coast – said Dr. Jarosław Pacoń from the University of Life Sciences in Wrocław in an interview with Medonet.

– At the turn of the 40s and 50s, there were several thousand cases of infections, but thanks to an effective preventive action, in 1968 WHO concluded that Poland is a country completely free from malaria – he stressed.

The scientist reminds that there are still species of mosquitoes in Poland that can transmit malaria. – But they do not transfer it, because this disease does not exist in our country – she emphasizes.

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However, this does not mean that malaria cannot be imported from abroad. – Until 2011, the average number of cases was 40 to 60 per year. Currently, there are more and more of them, although the pandemic has somewhat stopped this trend. In 2018-2019, up to 100 cases of imported malaria were recorded annually. That’s a lot. And these are just stated cases. In addition, there are many unidentified cases – people are infected but have no symptoms, the researcher notes.

Why is malaria vaccination difficult?

Malaria is caused by a parasite that is far more insidious and sophisticated than the virus that causes COVID-19. These are two completely different things.

The Plasmodium parasite, which causes malaria in humans, needs both blood-sucking and human-sucking insects for its life cycle.i. It grows inside a mosquito and is transmitted to a person when the mosquito bites it. After that, the parasite migrates to the liver, replicates and infects the blood, therefore, after being bitten by an infected person, it can be transferred further.

Once the parasite enters the bloodstream, it causes fever, chills, and flu-like illness. Healthy adults usually recover, but people with weaker immune systems – especially young children and pregnant women – may die. Malaria is one of the leading causes of miscarriage and stillbirth.

Older people living in malaria-prone regions become partially immune from prolonged exposure. However, the malaria parasite evolved to evade our immune system. You can catch the disease several times.

In rich countries, malaria was largely eradicated in the mid-XNUMXth century through the massive spraying of insecticides, including DDT, which were banned because of their ecological ramifications. However, endemic malaria is still present in poorer countries.

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Vaccination against malaria is difficult. Parasites are much more complex than viruses. Repeated attempts have been made to combat the parasite once it is in the blood, but it was unsuccessful. Attempts to infect the body – in order to build up immunity – with a dead or neutralized Plasmodium, have also failed.

The most successful attempts to invent vaccines have been with viral diseases that leave immunity to life, such as smallpox and polio. You cannot get sick with them a second time. Therefore, the vaccine had to elicit the same immune response that developed after the illness. In the case of malaria, the naturally acquired immunity to it is not long-lasting, it disappears after a few years. Decades of attempts to determine how a vaccine can induce persistent immunity have failed.

This is changing now. Mosquirix is ​​the first vaccine to show promising results, but more are on the way. Like the malaria vaccine called R21 / MM. The second phase of clinical trials showed effectiveness at the level of 77%. It remains only to hope that further research will be just as promising.

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