The development of a vaccine against malaria looks to have come a step closer. Research carried out at the St. Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen has shown how easy it is to offer people complete protection against a malaria infection.

According to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, volunteers were infected with malaria and simultaneously given the anti-malaria medicine chloroquine. The researchers reported that the volunteers showed no signs of illness. A few months later, the volunteers were again infected with malaria parasites, and this time they did not take chloroquine but remained healthy due to an immune reaction.

Every year millions of people suffer the consequences of malaria, especially children who haven't built up sufficient resistance against the disease. The majority of the victims live in Africa. Up to now, no vaccine has been available, but the researchers in Nijmegen are confident that it will soon be possible to produce one.