MONDAY, Nov. 21 (HealthDay News) -- The malaria vaccine RTS,S/AS02A confers partial protection in young African children against clinical disease for at least 18 months, according to an online report published Nov. 15 in The Lancet.
Pedro L. Alonso, M.D., of the University of Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues conducted a randomized, controlled trial of vaccine efficacy in 2,022 Mozambican children, aged 1 to 4 years, who received the vaccine either at birth, 1 month or 2 months of age. This report is an extended follow-up of these children who were previously assessed 2.5 to 8.5 months after vaccination.
After 21 months, clinical episodes of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, marked by high fever and high plasma parasite levels, were down by 35% in the vaccine group compared with controls. Viral efficacy for severe malaria was 48.6%.
"With sustained funding and improved international partnerships, the first two decades of this century are likely to witness vaccines being part of the armoury against malaria in use throughout the endemic areas of Africa," the authors write.
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