bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

A drug intended to help stop the spread of malaria will soon be mass-produced in Hong Kong.

 Malaria kills about one million people worldwide each year and there is no known vaccine against the disease, which has developed immunity to drugs such as chloroquine.

 'Guangzhou had a big malaria problem until a short time ago and climatic change could mean the return of malaria,' Chinese University professor Julian Critchley said.

 'In Hong Kong it has largely been eradicated but there's always the threat of a return, especially because of our proximity to infected regions.'  Last year, 55 people came down with malaria in Hong Kong. All cases were apparently imported.

 A transmission-blocking vaccine, dubbed TBV 25H, is to be manufactured in bulk in the coming months at the Institute of Biotechnology in Sha Tin - chosen over United States centres because of its better facilities.

 The drug blocks the malaria plasmodium protozoa from reaching a second person. Protozoa are carried by female Anopheles mosquitoes which can infect a person with a single bite.

 The infected person acts as a reservoir and when bitten a second time, continues the infection cycle.

 The new vaccine aims to stop the transmission route.

 'It won't stop you getting malaria, but even if it bites a second person the parasite won't be transferred to them,' Professor Critchley, from the university's department of pharmacology, said. 'The reservoir is in people and if we can stop the transfer then we can quell the disease.'  Hong Kong is not a breeding ground for the Anopheles mosquito, but with global warming the picture could change.

 Created at the National Institute of Health in the US, the vaccine has undergone clinical tests on animals and a small number of people, with positive results.

 It is hoped that in two to three years, after large-scale trials, the vaccine will be used on the mainland and countries such as Thailand, the Philippines and East Timor.



Drug to help in war on malaria