Malaria vaccine

1994/07/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza

Colombian researcher Manuel Patarroya has prepared a vaccine strain called SPf66 against malaria. In the tests carried out, good results have been obtained against this disease so abundant in the tropical zone.

The fever of malaria patients is due to a parasite called Plasmodium of female anofele mosquito and two main problems in the fight against this disease. On the one hand, the anofele mosquito increasingly supports pesticides, and on the other, in 15-30% of sick people the medicine called chloroquine does not destroy the parasite.

According to WHO, there are more than two billion people globally threatened by malaria and one hundred million people affected by malaria. Between 1.5 and 3 million people die each year from this disease.

In view of the hopeful results of South America, the strain called SPf66 will be tested in Tantzania (it must be said that in the world 90% of malaria cases occur in Africa) and the WHO ensures that the vaccine will be ready in 1998.