Latest Trustworthy News from Dr. Mercola - delivered straight to your inbox!

Malaria Vaccine Worsens Epidemic

It is bad enough that malaria kills 2 million to 3 million people every year, or one African child every 30 seconds, but it appears that implementing a malaria vaccine will actually increase the resistance of the malaria parasite, further worsening the epidemic. Researchers showed that parasites that moved from one vaccinated animal to another evolved into nastier strains than those grown in non-vaccinated animals.

Rather than focusing on expensive vaccines that worsen the epidemic wouldn't it make more sense to use simple treatments like amino acids that would increase nitric oxide and help the body defeat malaria naturally? Unfortunately, that economic model doesn't work very well for the drug industry, which is struggling to earn $1 trillion a year, and inexpensive nutrition-based solutions for disease don't serve well to further increase their profits.

Nature June 22, 2004