April 2004
Sweet Hope for a Malaria Vaccine
Malaria claims more than a million lives each year. One firm is betting that a sugar molecule can help.
By Erika Jonietz
Each year, malaria parasites infect up to half a billion people and kill at least one million, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, most of them children under the age of five. Nearly 3,000 children die each day. Before dying, they suffer severe anemia and recurring bouts of high fever, as the microbes invade red blood cells, reproduce, and escape, exploding the cells and releasing a devastating toxin. Fluid accumulates in the lungs, the blood turns acidic, the kidneys fail, and the brain can become inflamed, causing dizziness, seizures, and even personality changes.
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