New Delhi: Scientists have come up with a new vaccine to fight malaria which they claim is more effective.
The study by researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the UK reveals that a previously mysterious protein on the surface of the parasite called P113 anchors the RH5 protein, and provides a molecular bridge between the parasite and a red blood cell.
The discovery could be used to make a more effective malaria vaccine, researchers said.
More than 200 million people a year are infected with malaria and the disease caused the deaths of nearly half a million people worldwide in 2015.
Children under the age of five made up 70 per cent of these deaths. Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites which are spread by infected mosquitos and an effective vaccine would vastly improve the lives of millions of people.
Previous research by teams at the Sanger Institute discovered that to invade human red blood cells, Plasmodium parasites need RH5 to bind to a receptor called basigin on the surface of the blood cells.
(With PTI inputs)
