Washington (AFP)

A new approach using already existing remedies for malaria has been shown to reduce the number of severe cases of this infectious disease in children by 70%, according to a new study in sub-Saharan Africa.

These "spectacular" results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, could be a game-changer in the fight against malaria - also known as malaria - which kills around 400,000 people a year, the vast majority of them children under. five years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The approach is to combine a booster dose of a malaria vaccine before the rainy season, with preventative drugs.

Manufactured by British pharmaceutical giant GSK, the vaccine "RTS, S" has only limited effectiveness, Brian Greenwood of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and lead author of the study told AFP. .

Work has shown that the vaccine's protection erodes over time, and that it is 30% over a period of three to four years.

The team of researchers therefore wanted to test the benefit of a booster of this vaccine each year after a series of three initial doses.

The booster is administered before the rainy season, when the population of mosquitoes - vectors of the disease - is at its highest.

Clinical trials followed more than 6,000 children aged 5 to 17 months, in Burkina Faso and Mali, for three years.

They were divided into three groups: those who received only antimalarial drugs - sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and amodiaquine;

those who received only the vaccine;

and those who received both by following this new approach.

The combination of the two was the most effective: it reduced the number of cases by 63%, hospitalizations by 71%, and the number of deaths by 73%, compared to taking preventive treatments alone.

The order of magnitude was the same compared to the vaccine alone.

“It was quite spectacular,” commented Brian Greenwood.

And if this combination had been tested against no treatment - which was not done for ethical reasons - the reduction in hospitalizations and deaths would probably have been 90%, he said. .

The vaccine works against a parasite (Plasmodium falciparum), transmitted by mosquitoes.

Researchers behind the study are in contact with the WHO regarding a possible update of the organization's recommendations, according to Brian Greenwood.

"We hope that this will be implemented in several countries, and will save many lives," said the researcher.

© 2021 AFP