In a very risky experiment in conducted in Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Scientist opted to used mosquitoes as "artificial injections," delivering live malaria parasites through their bites.
The
experiment unveiled scintillating results -- Everyone in the mosquito-delivered vaccine group acquired immunity from Malaria while all those who weren't vaccinated by means of mosquito bites later caught Malaria.
The experiment led by Dutch researcher Dr. Robert Sauerwein calls for 15 volunteers, 10 of which were exposed to about a dozen malaria-infected mosquitoes once a month while the remaining five volunteers exposed to non-infected mosquitoes.
Both the vaccine group and the comparison group were injected with chloroquine, to minimize the risk in the said experiment.
Two months later, none of those bitten by malaria-infected mosquito showed any signs of infections while all those who belong to the comparison group -- the ones who were bitten by ordinary mosquito developed parasites in their bloodstreams.
The researchers however said that the experiment was only a small proof-of-principle test and may not yield the same astounding results if use in a larger group.
Hence, the scientists reaffirmed that the experiment shows that they may be at the right track in developing an effective vaccine against malaria.
Yearly, malaria kills nearly one million people mostly children under the age of five -- more likely in hostile regions such as Africa.
