#vaccines #malaria
For most folks in the US, Malaria is something they hear about in the news, the global news segment. In a country of over 300 million people, Americans are seldom affected by the parasite (1700 cases annually). Unlike other illnesses we’ve become accustomed to hearing about, malaria is a parasite that, after transmission, matures and reproduces in the liver. Once matured, the parasite moves into the blood stream, where it finds a home in our red blood cells. So far, the only way to deal with malaria has been through treatments post infection.
There are 8 drugs available to treat malaria. The treatment very much depends on the type of parasite the person carries. There are 5 known parasite types: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae and P. knowlesi. Because they all behave differently, treatment varies according to the parasite. Most importantly, this is what has made finding a vaccine ever more difficult.
Whereas most vaccines we’ve become familiar with have an effectiveness of 90% or higher (measles, chickenpox, polio, tetanus, etc), the new malaria vaccine is less than half as effective (40%). Which goes even further to illustrate how difficult it is to treat the malaria parasites.
Malaria kills close to half a million people annually. To provide context, the cities of Sacramento, Atlanta and Miami each have populations in the half-million range. This number, half-million, is for the deaths, not for the people who are treated and survive malaria. On a wold-wide basis, malaria affects over 200 million people. Another way to think of it would be malaria affecting the populations of Germany, France and Britain combined… year after year.
While the efficacy of the vaccine leaves a lot to be desired, it sets us in the right path towards eradicating this deadly parasite.
