New breakthrough in the fight against malaria

A new possibility in the development of a vaccine against malaria was announced on Thursday by the Cambridge-based Sanger Institute. Malaria affects over 300 million people, and it annually kills one million people, mostly children.

Researchers discovered that all known strains of the malaria-causing parasite take the same path-way into red-blood cells, where it can hide from the body’s immune system.

“It was always thought that the parasite used different ways to enter into the red blood cells,” said Leyla Bustamante, scientific manager at the Malaria Programme of the Sanger Institute.

“If a treatment, a vaccine or drug, is developed against this specific interaction, the hope is that the infection will be completely stopped,” she told Vatican Radio.

Listen to the full interview by Charles Collins with Layla Bustamante: