Correspondents' Correspondence Malaria Breakthrough

...Malaria Breakthrough Geneva—Scientists are hopeful that the development of a new, experimental malaria vaccine at the University of Hawaii heralds the end of what is Africa's largest single disease problem...

...Meanwhile, the project that brought about the dramatic Hawaii advancement will cost $7.5 million this year alone...

...only a microscopic examination of blood permits a correct diagnosis...

...But the program is expectedly to cost an average of two dollars per child, excluding the improved management techniques the WHO must develop for the 15-year target to be met...

...The organization's statistics reveal that fewer than 10 per cent of the 80 million children born annually in those countries are vaccinated...

...in some regions, four out of five children die before their fifth birthday...

...That sum was pledged by countries, national institutions and foundations attending a recent world conference in Geneva...

...The extent of the funding that will also be needed can be seen from a just-announced gigantic WHO immunization campaign, designed to extend to every child in all the developing countries by 1992 and cover a wide range of ailments...

...Prevention has been very hard to achieve because parasitic diseases in general pose special problems: The body's natural defense against parasites is simply not understood...

...With the Hawaii breakthrough—and the earlier test-tube cultivation of the blood form of the malaria parasite at Rockefeller University in New York City—immunologists should eventually be able to collect samples of virtually all parasites and attempt to develop vaccines to be used against them...

...parasites seem to have ways of hiding from that defense at vulnerable points in their development...

...There is no lack of ongoing scientific study: Many international organizations besides the WHO are hard at work attempting to conquer the major parasitic afflictions...

...Detection is difficult because the symptoms are similar to those of a number of other illnesses...

...This is the latest in a series of successful current experiments being conducted in many countries and aimed at producing a vaccine that can be deployed globally against the disease...

...Each year, 125 million cases are reported, and in Africa 1 million children die from malaria annually...

...In the years to come, however, a vast and sustained financial commitment will have to be made if the promise of such research efforts is to be realized globally.—Thomas Land...

...After being injected with the malaria parasite, three vaccinated monkeys survived, while two nonvaccinated ones died with high parasite levels in their blood...

...Before their findings can be translated into widely applied public health projects, though, a network of training facilities for research and medical personnel will have to be established in the countries that are most affected...

...Wasim A. Siddiqui and his associates, working in a major, internationally financed research program, have immunized monkeys against the deadliest form of human malaria for the first time...

...A spokesman for the United Nations' Agency for International Development here has confirmed that Dr...

...Of all the parasitic diseases—including schistosomiasis, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, filariasis, and leprosy—malaria is the biggest, most common killer...

...and they cannot, for the most part, be grown through all the stages of their life cycle anywhere but in their natural hosts...

...It is the third of these obstacles that has now been overcome...

...Howard Goodman, director of the office of research promotion and development for the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, estimates that within three years a vaccine may be available, at least for clinical trials in tropical Africa, where malaria is especially widespread...