Malaria vaccine efficacy: the difficulty of detecting and diagnosing malaria

Abstract New sources of funding have revitalized efforts to control malaria. An effective vaccine would be a tremendous asset in the fight against this devastating disease and increasing financial and scientific resources are being invested to develop one. A few candidates have been tested in Phase...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Malaria Journal
Main Authors: McKenzie F Ellis, Hall B Fenton, O'Meara Wendy
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: BMC 2007
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-6-36
https://doaj.org/article/aa8005da74504415be18a0657e96f111
Description
Summary:Abstract New sources of funding have revitalized efforts to control malaria. An effective vaccine would be a tremendous asset in the fight against this devastating disease and increasing financial and scientific resources are being invested to develop one. A few candidates have been tested in Phase I and II clinical trials, and several others are poised to begin trials soon. Some studies have been promising, and others disappointing. It is difficult to compare the results of these clinical trials; even independent trials of the same vaccine give highly discrepant results. One major obstacle in evaluating malaria vaccines is the difficulty of diagnosing clinical malaria. This analysis evaluates the impact of diagnostic error, particularly that introduced by microscopy, on the outcome of efficacy trials of malaria vaccines and make recommendations for improving future trials.