Active clinical trials for "Malaria"

Recent, randomized controlled trials conducted in areas of perennial malaria transmission have shown that intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) given at the time of vaccination reduced the incidence of the first episode of malaria and severe anaemia during the first year of life by more than 50% without there being any rebound in the subsequent year. However, in countries such as Mali, where malaria is highly seasonal and prevalent in older children, IPT in infants may not be the optimum way in which to use antimalarial drugs to prevent malaria. An alternative approach is to give intermittent preventive treatment to children at risk just during the rainy season. Here we propose (i) to evaluate the impact of two seasonal IPT (sIPT) with Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) given at 8 weeks interval on the incidence of malaria disease in children of 6 months to 10 years in an area of seasonal transmission, in Kambila, Mali; (ii) to assess the impact of this strategy on the in vivo response of P. falciparum to SP; (iii) to assess the potential rebound effect of this strategy on the subsequent transmission season after the cessation. Children 6 months-10 years in Kambila, Mali will randomized to receive either IPT with SP twice at 8 weeks interval or no IPT during the transmission season and will followed up for 12 months. Subjects will be also followed during the subsequent transmission season to assess possible rebound effect. Clinical malaria cases will be treated with SP and followed for 28 days to assess the in vivo response during both periods.

Intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) offers a way of preventing malaria infection without compromising the development of malaria immunity or encouraging drug resistance. The effect of IPT in children in the prevention of malaria has been evaluated in a number of trials in areas of seasonal malaria transmission. Results from these trials have shown that IPTc provided between 40% - 86% protection against clinical malaria. In 2006, a trial that compared two methods of IPTc delivery was carried out in Upper River Division, The Gambia. Preliminary results of the trial have shown that the treatment was very effective as only 4% (45/1133) of the children seen at the end of year cross-sectional survey were parasitaemic. Tolerability was assessed in a subset of 1100 children and the results showed that about 13.5% of children developed mild to moderate vomiting. Malaise was present in about 10% of the study subjects. Severe adverse events were rare. Thus it is important to investigate if other drug regimens might be equally effective in preventing malaria but less likely to cause adverse events. During the 2007 malaria transmission season, 1009 children aged 1-5 years will be individually randomized to receive amodiaquine plus SP, piperaquine plus SP or Artekin TM (dihdroartemisinin plus piperaquine) at monthly intervals on three occasions during the months of September, October, and November. To determine the prevalence of side effects following drug administration participants in each treatment group will be visited at home three and seven days after each round of drug administration and a side effects questionnaire completed. To help establish whether these adverse events are drug related, the same questionnaire will be administered after each treatment round, to 286 age-matched children who are not part of the trial. The primary ends points will be the incidence of adverse events.

This study will evaluate the safety and immune response of children to an experimental malaria vaccine called AMA1-C1/Alhydrogel® (Registered Trademark) + CPG 7909. Malaria is an infection of red blood cells caused by a parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, that is spread by certain kinds of mosquitoes. It affects at least 300 million people worldwide each year, with more than 1 million deaths, mostly among children less than 5 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is the leading cause of death and illness among the general population of Mali in West Africa. Increasing drug resistance to P. falciparum and widespread resistance of mosquitoes to pesticides are reducing the ability to control the disease through these strategies. AMA1 C1 is made from a synthetic protein similar to a P. falciparum protein. It is combined with Alhydrogel and CPG 7909, substances added to vaccines to make them work better. Children between 1 and 4 years of age who live in Bancoumana, Mali, and are in general good health may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with a medical history, physical examination, and blood and urine tests. Participants are randomly assigned to receive three injections (shots) of either AMA1-C1 or a control rabies inactivated vaccine called Imovax® (Registered Trademark). The shots are given in the thigh muscle on study days 0, 56 and 180. After each shot, participants are observed in the clinic for 30 minutes. They return to the clinic for a physical examination six or seven times between each shot and then four more times over a 9-month period after the last shot. Blood samples are drawn at several of these visits to check for side effects of the vaccine and to measure the response to it. The total duration of the study is 21 months. ...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety of a candidate malaria vaccine (PfAMA-1) at 3 doses given at monthly intervals of 2 different dosages of AMA-1 (10 μg or 50 μg ) adjuvanted either with alum hydroxide or AS02A or Montanide ISA 720 in healthy adults not previously exposed to the parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of zinc and/or vitamin A supplementation in reducing the risk of placental malaria and its associated adverse pregnancy outcomes.

This study will evaluate whether administration of two investigational malaria vaccines (257049 and Ad35.CS.01 vaccines) combined in one immunization schedule increases protection against malaria infection as compared to protection induced by the 257049 vaccine alone. The study will also evaluate the safety and the immune response to the new combination of the two experimental malaria vaccines.

This is an open label phase I study, to assess the safety and immunogenicity of novel schedules for vaccination with the candidate malaria vaccines AdCh63 ME-TRAP and MVA ME-TRAP. These vaccines have been evaluated previously in a number of clinical trials proved to be safe and capable of inducing protective cellular immune response following challenge with the parasite. All volunteers recruited will be healthy adults. They will be primed with AdCh63 ME-TRAP administered intramuscularly and boosted several times with AdCh63 ME-TRAP and MVA ME-TRAP according to various schedules.. Safety data will be collected for each of the seven regimens. Secondary aims of this study will be to assess the immune responses generated by each of these regimes.

Malaria accounts for over 40% of outpatient morbidity in Sierra Leone. These health risks have been heightened further by the recent civil war, persistent poverty, lack of access to affordable health care, and an increasing resistance of P.falciparum parasites to the most commonly used therapy Chloroquine, which now has a confirmed failure rate of 39%. This study will recruit 780 people from the Kroo-Bay community in Freetown. Healthy subjects would be randomised into two subgroups and given either homeopathic pellets or placebo tablets at four month intervals. They are then monitored repeatedly during the study period to assess the efficacy of the therapy in reducing the disease burden.

The purpose of this study is to test the safety and dosages of a malaria vaccine in 100 children, 1-6 years old, in Bandiagara, Mali. The study is testing the safety of the vaccine when it is given to people who are regularly exposed to malaria and it will provide information regarding optimal vaccine dosage. This study will compare 3 injections of different vaccine doses to a rabies vaccine that is already approved. During the study, the child's health will be checked in the clinic and during home visits. Children may participate for about 14 months, and blood will be taken from each child throughout the study. If the child becomes sick from malaria, he/she will be treated. Information from this study may be used to develop a malaria vaccine that will help control the disease.

Malaria in pregnancy is one of the most important preventable causes of low birthweight worlwide and a major cause of severe maternal anaemia contributing to maternal mortality. Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPT) with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) is the currently adopted government recommendation for malaria control during pregnancy in Benin, but the emergence and the spread of resistance to SP justifies the evaluation of alternative anti-malarial drugs. Mefloquine (MQ), which has been proven effective and reasonably safe in this indication, may be an interesting alternative to SP. The aim of this trial is to compare the efficacy and safety of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and mefloquine for IPT. It is an equivalent study designed to test the hypothesis that MQ is as efficacious as SP to prevent malaria in pregnancy, and that it could replace SP when resistance of Plasmodium falciparum becomes too elevated. Primary endpoint will be the proportion of infants with low birthweight. Secondary endpoints will be the proportion of mothers with placental plasmodial infection, and the proportion of mothers with anaemia at delivery.