Question

Transmission blocking vaccines for malaria aim to break the cycle of parasitic development. How does this idea of vaccine target help endemic areas that suffer from severe malaria disease?

Answer 1

Malaria is predominantly caused by a group of Plasmodium parasites. These are single celled and the female Anopheles mosquitoes act as an carrier of this parasite from infected individual to an healthy one.

Transmission blocking vaccines (TBV's) are also labelled as VIMT'S i.e vaccines that interrupt malaria parasite transmission. They work by interrupting the development of sporogonic stages of parasite within the mosquito which in turn reduces mosquito infectivity and decreasing the rate of disease spread.

Generally the transmission of malaria parasite begins when a mosquito fed with infected blood bites an healthy individual. But with the help of TBV's it would reduce the occurrence and further spread of disease to the community. Since the vaccine targets the sexual stage growth of the parasite it would become less infective this would help in declination of carriers of this parasite in a community over a period of time. By which emergence of new cases would also decline. Thus helping to lower the cases, increasing immunity and taking a step forward in eradication of the disease.