A Nobel Science Challenge Of The Malaria Vaccine Institute

Malaria has been in existence for thousands of years. Many historical records show that it has affected human civilization greatly by plaguing and causing mass death. The earliest record can be traced back to 2700 BC in China (Cox, 2002). It has been long associated with swamps and insects for hundreds of years but often believed to be the air from swamps causing the plague. The term malaria rooted from two Italian words ‘mala’ and ‘aria’ which literally means bad air. Humanity did not know the true nature of the long thought disease until 1894 when a Scottish physician, Sir Ronald Ross, discovered that it was actually the parasite in mosquito that is causing the malaria.

Malaria is a disease that affects nearly 600 million people and causes more than a million deaths a year, the most coming from children under five. This disease is regularly found in more than 100 countries around the world and affects 40% of the world’s population. It is most commonly transmitted by an infected Anopheles mosquito. The most deadly form of malaria is known as Plasmodium falciparum because almost all deaths from malaria are caused by this specific one. Some of the symptoms that are affiliated with this strand of malaria are the destruction of red blood cells along with complications with the kidneys, lungs, and brain. In more serious cases, it can cause permanent neurological effects and even death. As the Nobel Assembly said at the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, “Diseases caused by parasites have plagued humankind for a millennium and constitute a major global health problem. In particular, parasitic diseases affect the world’s poorest populations and represent a huge barrier to improving human health and wellbeing”. Youyou Tu, one of the winners of the prize, discovered Artemisinin, “a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from malaria by killing the malaria parasites an early stage of their development.”

Around 300-600 million people suffer from malaria each year, and over one million people die from this disease every year, mostly children younger than five. This disease is endemic to over 100 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the South Pacific, almost 40% of the world population. Malaria is caused by a parasite that is transferred by the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. The most deadly form of malaria is known as Plasmodium falciparum because almost all deaths from malaria are caused by this specific one. In addition to being the deadliest form of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum destroys red blood cells along with causing complications with the kidneys, lungs, and brain. In more serious cases, it can cause permanent neurological effects, and even death. As the Nobel Assembly said at the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, “Diseases caused by parasites have plagued humankind for a millennia and constitute a major global health problem. In particular, parasitic diseases affect the world’s poorest populations and represent a huge barrier to improving human health and wellbeing”. Youyou Tu, one of the winners of the prize, discovered Artemisinin, a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from malaria by killing the malaria parasites an early stage of their development.

Malaria is a serious and sometimes fatal disease caused by a parasite that commonly infects a certain type of mosquito that feeds on humans. The word malaria comes from 18th-century Italian “mal” meaning "bad" and “aria” meaning "air." The symptoms of malaria were first described in ancient Chinese medical writings. Malaria became recognized in Greece by the 4th century BCE, and it caused the decline of many populations. The World Health Organization estimates that in 2013 malaria caused 198 million clinical episodes and 500,000 deaths. It is the fifth leading cause of death worldwide, and almost 40% world’s population is at risk. (CDC.GOV/FASTFACTS)

Furthermore, malaria parasites have a complex life cycle in which they infect humans and are transmitted by Anopheline mosquitoes.The completion of the parasite life cycle was a success and requires specific molecular interactions between the parasite and host or vector tissues. It may be

Infectious diseases are the leading cause of death all over the world [1]. Malaria, also called plasmodium infection, is one of the most important human infectious diseases threatening the lives of millions of people every year. According to WHO malaria report, globally, an estimated 3.2 billion people in 97 countries and territories are at risk of being infected with malaria and developing disease, and 1.2 billion are at high risk [2]. Although the disease has been eradicated in most areas, it’s still widespread in some regions [2]. The biggest challenges in controlling malaria disease are the emergence of anti-malarial drug resistance and insecticide resistance in parasite and mosquito, respectively [3-5]. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop novel intervention strategies such as vaccines to reduce the burden of malaria morbidity and mortality. Malaria is commonly associated with poverty and has a major negative effect on economic development [6]. Oral vaccines offer exciting possibilities for reducing the burden of diseases especially in developing regions of the world. Oral vaccines are inexpensive, easily administered (needle-free) and capable of being stored and transported without refrigeration [7]. In contrast to injected vaccines, oral vaccines are mucosal-targeted, which cause stimulation of systemic as well as mucosal

Malaria (also called biduoterian fever, blackwater fever, falciparum malaria, plasmodium, Quartan malaria, and tertian malaria) is one of the most infectious and most common diseases in the world. This serious, sometimes-fatal disease is caused by a parasite that is carried by a certain species of mosquito called the Anopheles. It claims more lives every year than any other transmissible disease except tuberculosis. Every year, five hundred million adults and children (around nine percent of the world's population) contract the disease and of these, one hundred million people die. Children are more susceptible to the disease than adults, and in Africa, where ninety percent of the world's cases occur and where eighty percent of the

With modern ACTs, only about 1 in 500 cases of malaria results in death. (Gallagher, 2017)

Around the world each year people died from Malaria, mainly in tropical and subtropical part of the world, there are five species of Plasmodium can cause disease in humans P. ovale, P. malariae, P. vivax, P. falciparum, and the primate species P. knowlesi. In previous reported WHO (2015) 215 million cases and 438 thousand dead by infection of P. falciparum, it is the strain most common and fatal mainly in Africa [1]. P. falciparum is capacity changes the red

Several species can cause human malaria and most of these species have drug resistant making treatment approach highly dependable on the species that caused it. Multi-drug resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria had been treated with many different, both single and combinations of drugs. The most common type that is known to be effective is the artemisinin-based combination therapy also known as ACT; a combination of artermisinin and its derivatives and longer-acting antimalarial drugs. Studies conducted by Pousibet-Puerto et al. shows the effectiveness of ACT treatment to those with uncomplicated malaria from Plasmodium falciparum compared to those getting the classic treatment, comparing the length of their hospital stays and their

Malaria can cause serious medical emergency, if not diagnosed could be fatal, furthermore, earlier diagnosis and treatment is crucial in patient survival. The need for simple and accurate testing for Plasmodium species will lower the number of untreated malaria patients and decrease the mortality rate of the patients in endemic areas. Notably, other deadly diseases have similar symptoms of malaria, making clinical diagnosis based off symptoms difficult (Tangpukdee, Duangdee, Wilairatana, & Krudsood, 2009, p. 94). In addition, the transmission of malaria has increased in endemic areas where malaria control has decreased allowing the emergence of drug resistant malaria species (Tangpukdee, Duangdee, Wilairatana, & Krudsood, 2009, p. 93). Differentiation between Plasmodium sp. is critical in determining the best treatment for the patient in particular Plasmodium falciparum and P. knowlesi have a fast onset of symptoms can lead to death while the other Plasmodium species are less severe and require different treatment (Centers for Disease Control, 2013, p. 2-3).

The mechanism of Malaria is from a Plasmodium parasite, that originate in female Anopheles mosquitoes, that can spread into humans from the bites of the infected mosquitoes (Mohandas & An, 2012). Among the “Plasmodia species… only 4 of the over 100 species of plasmodia are infectious to humans. The majority of cases and almost all deaths are caused by Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax,

This makes it even harder to control the global spread of malaria, and more money and efforts are needed to spend on malaria prevention and limitation. Other factors, like insecticide resistance and environment changes are responsible for increasing tough situations as well[2.9,12,14]. This wakes up the industrial and academic interest worldwide, and in the last five years, increasing amount of funding and research topics are assigned to develop antimalarial drugs and vaccine.

Malaria is one of the most common blood sucking disease and a major health problem worldwide infecting 200 million and killing about 2 million people each year [2]. Rapid diagnosis and early treatment of clinical cases is central to the reduction of malarial morbidity and mortality [3]. The two diagnostic approaches currently used are clinical and microscopic examination. Clinical diagnosis of malaria alone is unreliable and should be confirmed by laboratory tests [4].

Since ancient times, malaria has been posing a grave threat to the mankind in terms of morbidity, mortality and economic adversity. This infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites from Plasmodium family and transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes, afflicts people from all age groups across tropical and sub- tropical regions in the world[1]. Presently, malaria is endemic in 104 countries[2].Though, in the past decade the fight against this preventable disease has been intensified worldwide and as a result , during 2000-2012 the global malarial mortality and incidence rates have declined by about 42% and 25% respectively; this deadly disease has still inflicted an estimated 207 million cases and taken 627 000 lives around the world while leaving nearly 3.4 billion people at risk of contracting the infection in 2012[3].