Experimental malaria vaccine shows positive results among children in small Burkina Faso study

"An experimental malaria vaccine tested on children in Burkina Faso has shown 'a high level of efficacy' in protecting against the disease, a study published in" Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine said, according to Agence France-Presse. The research, which "was initially planned to study the safety and immune response of the vaccine, known by the name MSP3 ... was led by scientists from the National Center for Research and Training on Malaria in Burkina Faso, the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and the Paris-based Pasteur Institute," the news agency writes.

"In the study, 45 children aged 12-24 months were randomized into three groups receiving doses of either 15 or 30 micrograms of the experimental malaria vaccine, or the control vaccine against Hepatitis B," AFP reports. "It found children who received the new vaccine at either dose had incidence rates three to four times lower than children who did not, 'yielding efficacy rates of 64 and 77 percent protection against clinical malaria,' the journal article said," according to the news agency, which adds that larger trials are needed to verify the results (9/14).