Oxford Vaccine Group has launched a novel clinical study to investigate relapsing malaria infections caused by Plasmodium vivax.
Announced on 22 January, the study Tagged BIO-006 is the first to involve controlled observation of relapsing malaria in humans, and is expected to bring new insight into relapse frequency and how the immune system responds.
The “malaria challenge” study is part of the OptiViVax consortium and will be carried out in collaboration with Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands.
Method of study
The study will involve up to five healthy volunteers who will be exposed to mosquitoes infected with Plasmodium vivax at the Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands.
After being bitten by the mosquitoes, they will be accompanied by the Oxford study team back to Oxford and observed.
They will be monitored via phone calls for six days and from the seventh day start receiving in-person medical assessment until the parasite can be detected in their blood.
At this point, a standard anti-malaria medication will be administered to clear the parasite in the blood but not the dormant parasites in the liver so that researchers can study the relapse over the next six months.
During the period of the six months, participants will attend fortnightly clinic visits and have access to 24/7 medical support to treat any relapse infections.
They’ll also receive a full treatment course after the study is completed, plus another medication to clear up the liver-stage parasites and prevent future relapses. They will still receive follow-up for five years to see if there are any unexpected outcomes.
Improving malaria treatment
Oxford Vaccine Group is an organization at the University of Oxford that is involved with vaccine research and educating the world on immunization.
Though malaria is easily treatable, it often has relapses which occur as a result of some of the parasites being left in the liver after treatment.
This is usually the case as healthcare providers aren’t conscious of this reality. This study will shed more light and probably increase awareness on this issue to make malaria treatments more effective in the future.
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