New vaccine offers hope in Africa's malaria battle (AP)

[pinto]

New vaccine offers hope in Africa's malaria battle
By Associated Press Writer, Jason Straziuso – Tue Nov 3, 10:19 am ET

SIAYA, Kenya – A mother watched with dread as a nurse inserted a tube in her baby's head. Blood streamed into the anemic 4-month-old who already has malaria, the mosquito-borne disease that kills a million African children every year.

"Malaria is one of the deadliest sicknesses for children," the nurse said — words that sent the young mother into a crumpled heap on the bed beside her wide-eyed baby boy, wrapped in a blue-and-yellow floral blanket.

There is new hope, however, in this verdant area where President Barack Obama's relatives live. A vaccine that appears to be able to prevent the disease in about 50 percent of children, is now undergoing the final stage of testing.

If regulators determine the vaccine is safe, it could be on the market in three to five years — the first vaccine against a human parasite.

Tens of millions of Africans are plagued by malaria every year, and more than a third of the hospital beds in this rural Kenyan region next to Lake Victoria are dedicated to its victims. More than 1 million children die of the disease in Africa annually, a crippling economic drain that prolongs a cycle of disease and poverty throughout the continent.

more at

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091103/ap_on_he_me/af_africa_malaria_vaccine

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2. This is one of the projects funded by the Gates Foundation. n/t