Active clinical trials for "Malaria"

Prime boost vaccination with ChAd63 ME-TRAP followed eight weeks later with MVA ME-TRAP shows efficacy against malaria infection when tested in UK volunteers using sporozoite challenge experiments. It is a leading candidate vaccination strategy against malaria. In the field, Phase I studies have been conducted in adults in Kenya and The Gambia and children and infants in The Gambia. The vaccination strategy appears safe and well tolerated in these populations, and also shows impressive immunogenicity, not significantly different to that seen in the UK trials where efficacy was shown. In particular, recent data from The Gambia shows excellent safety and immunogenicity in infants in malaria endemic areas, who would be the ones to benefit most from such a vaccine against malaria. With this clinical development as background, the investigators now propose to evaluate efficacy against natural malaria infection in this important target group for an effective malaria vaccine, that is, 5-17 month infants and children living in malaria endemic areas. The proposed study area, Banfora, Burkina Faso, is highly endemic for Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

One of the proposed ideas for malaria elimination includes the use of drugs to interrupt malaria transmission by exhausting the human reservoir of infection. Theoretically, mass treatment of an entire population with a very effective and rapid-acting drug (for instance an ACT), followed by the administration of an effective prophylactic regime during a minimum of four weeks, so as to outlast the typical development period of Plasmodium parasites in Anopheline mosquitoes, could achieve the same objective. In this respect, chloroquine (CQ) would be an appropriate candidate. This drug exhibits two conditions that make it attractive for elimination campaigns: 1) It has been demonstrated to have an excellent safety profile, allowing for its use in all age groups including pregnant women and children; and 2) Its relatively long elimination half life (t1/2=1-2 months) can provide a long post-treatment prophylactic effect. Recent evidence suggests that CQ sensitivity may be returning in places where discontinuation has reduced the drug pressure to the parasite populations. In countries such as Malawi, P. falciparum seems to have regained full sensitivity to CQ, and molecular markers of antiCQ resistance have nearly disappeared. While this does not support the reintroduction of CQ as first line therapy, it does suggest that, if proven sensitive in a given area, it could play a prophylactic role in malaria elimination strategies when used in combination with other drugs or tools. Thus, we intend to evaluate the potential role of chloroquine in preventing infections during elimination campaigns by performing a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled trial in asymptomatic Mozambican adults. Choosing asymptomatic parasitaemic adult males from a malaria-endemic area as our study population introduces limited risks when administering a drug with an uncertain efficacy (47% efficacious in 2001-2002). In malaria-endemic areas, this age group has a remarkably low risk of developing severe disease (irrespective of clinical symptoms), and it is foreseeable that parasitemia may be well tolerated, and in certain cases, spontaneously cleared from the individual's blood as a result of the immune system. In the unlikely event of any clinical symptomatology appearing throughout the follow-up, individuals will be examined by a study clinician and treated immediately with the country's first-line malaria treatment (artemether-lumefantrine, Coartem ®).

The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the safety of 3 different dosages (20µg - 50µg and 100µg) of a placental malaria vaccine candidate (PRIMVAC vaccine) adjuvanted either with Alhydrogel® or GLA-SE, and administered at D0, D28 and D56 in healthy European and Burkinabe adults. The safety and the tolerability of the vaccine will be assessed on the rate of solicited and unsolicited events/reactions The safety profile will included local and systemic reactions/events as well as the biological safety, based on a clinically significant change of the baseline value of the main biological criteria

This is a proof of concept study that will evaluate the feasibility of a vapor nanobubble technology (MalariSense) for malaria diagnostics. The MalariSense technology will use a highly innovative approach based on the transdermal non-invasive detection of vapor nanobubbles produced by the excitation of malaria-specific hemozoin by safe, low-energy laser pulse. The objectives of this study will be to determine the sensitivity and specificity of MalariSense in diagnosing malaria in malaria suspected cases attending a health facility in The Gambia and to identify factors influencing the diagnostic accuracy of MalariSense

Background: Malaria is still a health problem in Sub-Saharan Africa. Death rates are stable and have even increased in some areas. There are malaria vaccines. However, researchers think repeated immunizations with a vaccine called PfSPZ may work better. Objective: To see if PfSPZ is safe, tolerable, and effective against malaria. Eligibility: Healthy adults ages 18 to 50 years who live in the Doneguebougou area in Mali Design: Participants will be screened with medical history and physical exam. Participants will sign or fingerprint the consent form. They will take a survey to see how well they understand the study. Participants will give blood and urine samples. Participants will have at least one ECG: Soft electrodes will be stuck to the skin. A machine will record heart signals. Participants will have HIV counseling. Participants will be assigned to a group. Groups will get a different strength doses. Groups will get a different number of vaccines over different periods of time. If a participant develops a rash or injection site reaction, photographs may be taken. Participants will receive an oral anti-malaria drug during the study. Participants will be monitored for 3 to 6 months after the last vaccine.

In this study, the investigators propose to determine the value of rolling out four targeted malaria control efforts in reducing overall malaria transmission. These targeted control efforts include local upscaling of IRS and ITNs in hotspots of malaria transmission. In addition, larviciding will be employed to target malaria vectors, also those that are less susceptible to IRS and ITNs as a consequence of outdoor feeding and resting. Lastly, the human infectious reservoir will be reduced in hotspots of malaria transmission by treating parasite carriers and their household members with the current first-line antimalarial drug. The impact of these targeted interventions on overall transmission intensity will be assessed in the context of currently ongoing malaria control activities in a plausibility study. Hotspots of malaria transmission are defined in an area of 100km2 and randomized to receive hotspot targeted interventions and compared with their baseline and with control clusters where the routine (untargeted) malaria control activities continue. The interventions will be evaluated based on changes in parasite prevalence measured in community surveys inside and outside hotspots of malaria transmission. Parasite prevalence will be compared before and after the intervention in intervention clusters and between intervention and control clusters. In addition to malaria surveys in the human population, an entomological evaluation will take place where the densities of mosquito larvae and adult mosquitoes are monitored longitudinally.

The main aim of this study is to test the primary hypothesis that the addition of intermittent screening and treatment of malaria in pregnant women (ISTp) who receive routine antenatal care (ANC) in health facilities in high malaria transmission areas in Rwanda will reduce malaria prevalence among pregnant women when compared to routine antenatal cares services alone.

Background: The disease malaria affects many people in Mali and other parts of Africa and the world. It is caused by germs spread by mosquito bites. Malaria may be mild. But it can also be serious or lead to death if it is not treated promptly. Researchers want to find a safe vaccine that prevents malaria. Objective: To study how safe and tolerable the malaria vaccine called PfSPZ Vaccine is for healthy adults. Eligibility: Healthy adults: ages 18-35 in Ouelessebougou, Mali not infected with HIV, hepatitis B, or hepatitis C for females, not pregnant or breastfeeding and must use reliable birth control during the study Design: Participants will be screened with questions about malaria and will undergo blood, urine, and heart tests. Participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups. They will get injections of either the PfSPZ Vaccine or a salt-water placebo. They will not know which one they get. Vaccinations will occur leading into the malaria transmission each year with 3 injections leading into Year 1 (malaria transmission season in 2018) and 1 injection prior to Year 2 (malaria transmission season 2019). One vaccine group and one placebo group will get an injection 3 times over 4 weeks with an additional vaccination ~10 months later. The other two groups (vaccine group and placebo) will get an injection 3 times over 16 weeks with an additional vaccination ~10 months later. All participants will be treated with an antimalarial medication prior to the third injection and prior to fourth injection. They will be followed for approximately 6 months after third and fourth injection. At vaccine visits, female participants will have a pregnancy test before injection. All participants will have an arm cleaned and the vaccine injected in a vein. They will be watched for 30 minutes. At non-vaccine visits, participants will have a physical exam and be asked how they are feeling. They will usually have blood tests.

This is a study to evaluate the safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy of a recombinant circumsporozoite protein (rCSP) malaria vaccine administered with and without AP 10-602 [Glucopyranosyl Lipid A (GLA) in liposome Quillaja saponaria 21 formulation (LSQ)] adjuvant. 59 healthy adult, malaria naive volunteers aged 18 to 45 will receive vaccination with or without adjuvant (10 of those volunteers will receive rCSP alone) in five dose escalating groups. Each group will receive 3 vaccination doses total, with intramuscular (IM) injections on days 1, 29, and 85. A sixth group of 6 volunteers will receive no vaccinations and will participate as a control in a Controlled Human Malaria Infection (CHMI) challenge with two of the vaccinated groups. The study will be conducted at the Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) in Baltimore, Maryland. The patient participation duration is expected to be up to 886 days (up to 117 days for nonvaccination group). This study will test two hypotheses: (1) the rCSP/AP 10-602 [GLA-LSQ] candidate malaria vaccine will induce an immune response in a dose-dependent manner as measured by anti-CSP antibody titer via ELISA and (2) the rCSP/AP 10-602 [GLA-LSQ] candidate malaria vaccine will provide a minimum of 50% efficacy in vaccines compared to unvaccinated infectivity controls. The primary objective is to assess the safety and reactogenicity of candidate rCSP/AP 10-602 [GLA-LSQ] malaria vaccine when administered intramuscularly on a 1, 29, and 85 day schedule (Groups 1-3, 4B, 5) and on a 1 and 490 day schedule (Group 4) to healthy malaria-naive adults aged 18-45 years.

The overall aim of the study is to learn whether utilization of Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs) for delivery of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnant women (IPTp) can increase coverage of three or more IPTp doses compared to IPTp delivery only at antenatal clinics (ANC), while at the same time improve or maintain ANC attendance. This will be a cluster randomized trial, including a total of 20 health facilities (HF) which will be randomly assigned to either the intervention (10) or non-intervention group (10); all HSAs affiliated with a HF will be in the same group.