Algemeen Dagblad wrote a while back about a new drug against malaria. It would disable the malaria parasite in the mosquito, thereby “…preventing new malaria cases throughout an entire malaria season.” However, the research was done in a lab and a small group of healthy volunteers. In addition, the drug itself does not protect the recipient against malaria, but only prevents further transmission via the mosquito. Preventing the spread of malaria would certainly be good news, but it remains to be seen whether the technique actually works in areas where malaria occurs.
A review by: the editors
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What does the headline suggest?
A new drug against malaria would ‘switch off’ the malaria parasite in the mosquito. How does this drug work? Does it also prevent you from getting malaria? And is this drug already available?
Malaria
Malaria is an infectious disease caused by parasites. These parasites have an extensive reproductive cycle that occurs partly in humans and partly in mosquitoes. You can get sick from malaria parasites if you are bitten by an infected mosquito. Through the saliva of the mosquito, the parasites spread from mosquito to humans and back. Mosquitoes become infected again by stinging infected people. Malaria causes many deaths every year (estimated about 500,000) of which the majority are children in Africa.
Where does this news item come from?
Researchers at Radboud University have developed a drug that blocks the reproduction of malaria parasites in mosquitoes. The drug, a type of protein (an antibody) binds to the surface of an immature parasite, stopping the parasite’s further development. For example, after stinging an infected person, a mosquito would no longer be able to pass on the malaria parasite to other people. The results of the first trials of administering the drug to humans have now been published.
Twenty-five young healthy volunteers without malaria were divided into five groups. The first 4 groups were infused with the drug in different doses. The fifth group received the drug as an injection under the skin. Subjects were followed for 12 weeks. Side effects were generally mild. None of the subjects experienced serious side effects. Based on this, the researchers conclude that TB31F is safe for administration in humans.
The effectiveness of the drug was investigated by mixing test subjects’ blood with malaria parasites. This was fed to farmed malaria mosquitoes. These mosquitoes subsequently turned out to have far fewer mature malaria parasites in their bodies than mosquitoes that received blood without antibodies from test subjects. The researchers think that one administration of the drug is enough to be effective for 4 months (the duration of the malaria season).
There are, of course, a number of caveats to this study. The most important, which is also mentioned by the researchers themselves, is that this is a laboratory study in which the subjects had never been exposed to malaria. It remains to be seen whether the same results are achieved in real life and also in people who have had malaria before. In addition, this drug does not protect the person against malaria, but it prevents mosquitoes from spreading it further. The question is to what extent people are prepared and it is logistically feasible to administer a drug to large groups of people every year via an IV, if they do not benefit directly from this.
Is this really something new?
A lot of research is being done into the prevention of malaria (also read our previous reviews here and here). This research is the first to try to inhibit the reproduction of the malaria parasite in the mosquito. It could therefore be a good development for the fight against malaria.
What can we do with this now?
The research offers a possible new way to inhibit the spread of malaria. However, the drug has only been tested in a lab. Whether equally good results are achieved in the general population of malaria areas is now the big question. It is not yet clear when more will be known about this. If you travel to an area where malaria is prevalent, follow the guidelines of the RIVM or read this information from Thuisarts.nl.