Tuesday December 15th, 2009
The largest international clinical trial to date into a preventative HIV gel has found no evidence that the vaginal microbicide, PRO 2000, reduces the risk of HIV infection in women, scientists announced today. This placebo-controlled trial involved 9,385 women at six research centres in four African countries and found that the risk of HIV infection in women who were supplied with PRO 2000 gel was not significantly different than in women supplied with placebo gel. Although ineffective in providing protection, PRO 2000 gel itself was safe to use.
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Monday October 26th, 2009
A study published in the August 1 issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases has shown for the first time that RTS,S, the world’s most clinically advanced malaria vaccine candidate, maintains protection during a 45 month follow-up period. The study conducted in 2022 Mozambican children age 1-4 years demonstrates that the RTS,S/AS02 vaccine is capable of reducing clinical episodes of malaria by 30 percent and severe malaria cases by 38 percent for at least 45 months following its administration.
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Thursday September 17th, 2009
A third (30%) of malaria cases can be avoided in African infants using a safe, affordable and simple tool called Intermittent Preventive Treatment of malaria in Infants (IPTi) with the medicine sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), which can be delivered alongside existing childhood vaccination programmes.
Results of a meta-analysis examining six clinical trials in Africa for the malaria intervention which the World Health Organization already recommends, are published in the medical journal, The Lancet. Authors of this study and CRESIB (Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona) researchers Drs. Clara Menéndez, John Aponte and Andrea Egan (from left to right in the picture), explained the results obtained in this global analysis during a press conference in Barcelona. Research experts say if IPTi-SP were expanded in other African countries, 6 million cases of malaria could be prevented each year in those most vulnerable to the disease.
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