a new preventive treatment proves very effective in children

The fight against malaria could soon have a new lever for action. A new antibody treatment appears to effectively protect children against this potentially fatal parasitic disease, according to a study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine. These results – which confirm those already obtained in adults in 2022 – represent great hope, at a time when treatments “ historical » against malaria are gradually losing ground due to the emergence of resistance. Every year, this scourge is responsible for more than 600,000 deaths, 80% of which are children under 5 years old.

The treatment in question is based on an injection of monoclonal antibodies, molecules naturally produced by our immune system when it is exposed to microbes. It is also possible to have them manufactured by cells in the laboratory, as was done for this study. Antibodies have the ability to bind to…