Tanzanian Children Immune to Malaria

Blood from a rare group of children in Tanzania, found to be naturally immune to #malaria has now helped scientists take a giant leap in developing a #vaccine against one of the world’s deadliest disease — Malaria. Researchers from Brown University School of Medicine, having screened 1,000 children in Tanzania, found that 6% of them naturally produce an #antibody that attacks the malaria-causing parasite. Samples were taken in the first years of their lives. Scientists then found a unique antibody that halted the parasite at a key stage in its life-cycle, by trapping a tiny organism in red blood cells, preventing it from being released and spreading throughout the body.