The latest upbeat news from Dr James Beeson of the University of Melbourne, Australia, following the identification of a new protein could indeed be very good news. Malaria causes a million deaths every year and 85% of these deaths are in children under 5 years old. However, some people, including children in Kenya, who became immune to the malaria parasite over time have been found to have developed antibodies to a malarial protein called PfEMP1.
The PfEMP1 protein causes an immune response at the time when the malaria parasite is replicating in the patient's blood. This means that the protein can theoretically be used in the laboratory to create a potential vaccine that, following successful application, would protect the patient at the time the parasites start to grow. This is a good approach because if it works it would mimic natural immunity and extend the protection afforded to other people who would not otherwise have this immune advantage.
There are many 'ifs' and 'maybes', so why the unusual level of excitement at such an early stage of new drug development? We are already seeing resistance building to our best drugs including Arteminsin; there are no new good drugs on the horizon and so unless a vaccine is found, the experts report that we could be heading towards a catastrophe.
Even the production of an effective vaccine may not be good enough. In fact, according to other research groups, the widespread use of a vaccine could actually do far more harm than good. As previously covered by totalhealth, Penn State University are warning that the widespread use of a vaccine, if an effective one were to be found, could actually be equally or more damaging as it has been found that vaccines appear to have the effect of making the disease more virulent. After all, evolution (including drug resistance) is driven by random mutations. Chaos will win because it is more organised and so this is arguably, in terms of infectious diseases, the single biggest challenge for global health workers in the fight to keep a step ahead.