View clinical trials related to Malaria.
Filter by:Background: Malaria is caused by a parasite (a type of germ called P. vivax) that is carried by mosquitoes. The disease is transmitted to people when they are bitten by infected mosquitoes. To make drugs and vaccines for malaria, researchers need malaria-infected blood. Plasmodium vivax cell cultures are currently not cultured in vivo, and thus establishing a blood bank from P. vivax infections will be vital for future research. Objective: The goal of this study is to infect people with early-stage malaria, then collect infected blood samples to store in a cell bank for future use. Eligibility: Healthy adults ages 18-50 who will not be living alone during the study period. Design: Participants will be screened with a physical exam, heart health test, and medical history. They will have blood and urine tests. They will take a mental health survey. They must pass an exam to prove they understand the study. Participants will have red blood cells infected with P. vivax injected into an arm vein. They will be observed for side effects. They will get a thermometer to measure their temperature at home. For the next 3 days, they will be monitored via phone call or text. Starting on day 4 after the infection, they will have daily study visits to give blood samples. They will likely develop symptoms of malaria, such as fever, chills, headache, and muscle pain. Participants will be admitted to the hospital for 2-3 days when either they develop symptoms or the daily blood tests detect a certain amount of parasites. Once malaria is confirmed, a sample of their blood will be collected for the cell bank. Then they will be treated for malaria with oral medication that will cure the infection. Those who do not develop malaria will begin treatment after 15 days. Participants will have follow-up visits 28 and 90 days after infection. Participation will last for 3-5 months.
Malaria is a parasitic disease causing substantial morbidity and mortality globally. Malaria is a potentially severe and fatal disease in non-immune individuals. In areas of intense transmission infections individuals acquired immunity that protect against clinical disease. Nonetheless, immunity is not regarding sterilizing and repeated infections often result in an asymptomatic carriage of malaria parasites. These chronic apparently asymptomatic infections have been associated with anemia, cognitive dysfunction and adverse events during pregnancy. Global migration has increased over the last decade and has resulted in an increasing number of migrants from malaria endemic regions arriving in non-endemic countries. Migrants from malaria endemic countries may carry asymptomatic infections with malaria parasites, as well as other parasitic infections such as strongyloides and schistosomiasis, with a possible negative impact on health in this group. The prevalence of asymptomatic malaria and other parasites is not fully elucidated in migrants from different regions. Moreover, the longevity of asymptomatic carriage of malaria parasites in absence of re-exposure is not known. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of malaria parasites and other parasitic infections in migrants in Sweden, both newly arrived and migrants with longer residency, and intend to evaluate the need for screening for various parasitic infections in migrants arriving in Sweden. Moreover, this study will also assess antibody responses to malaria and other parasitic diseases.
As efforts to control malaria are stalling, and the disease is particularly severe in children under the age of two, it is imperative for countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with areas of moderate-to-high transmissions, to implement Perennial Malaria Chemoprevention (PMC) delivered through the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), which is the only feasible, sustainable and cost-effective strategy to reach this high-risk group. PMC is a full therapeutic course of antimalarial medicine (with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, SP) delivered to infants in the context of routine immunisation services during the first two year of life. PMC has been shown to be safe, efficacious in reducing clinical malaria, anaemia and hospital admissions, and to be highly cost-effective; for all these reasons, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended in 2010 Intermittent Preventive Treatment for Infants (IPTi) for malaria prevention. Only one African country - Sierra Leone -put IPTi into policy and practice. Concerned with this slow adoption, WHO in 2019 recommended adaptations be urgently tested through pilots assessing impact, operational feasibility and cost effectiveness. In 2022, WHO expanded that recommendation to cover children through the age of two because of studies documenting the value in children aged 12 to 24 months. The name for this preventive treatment has consequently changed to Perennial Malaria Chemoprevention (PMC) as the updated recommendation is no longer just for infants. MULTIPLY is the pilot implementation of PMC in selected districts in Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Togo to maximise the delivery and uptake of PMC, to achieve the full potential of this intervention. Working with the ministries of health in Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Togo, MULTIPLY will give up to 6 doses of PMC in the first two years of life. PMC will be given at health facilities and EPI mobile outreach clinics using a paediatric dispersible formulation of SP, alongside routine vaccinations and vitamin A supplementation.
Since their introduction in the late 90's, rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have markedly improved our ability to control malaria; yet they have inherent limitations which include low sensitivity in Plasmodium vivax detection and inability to detect hrp2/3 gene deleted Plasmodium falciparum parasites. In addition, the spread of P. falciparum parasites lacking hrp2 gene jeopardizes the long-term use of P. falciparum-specific HRP2-based RDTs. A partnership between RapiGEN, FIND, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is addressing these limitations by developing five novel malaria RDTs with improved pLDH and HRP2 detection. RapiGEN has also developed three novel malaria RDTs - BIOCREDIT Malaria Ag Pf/Pv (pLDH/pLDH), BIOCREDIT Malaria Ag Pf (pLDH/HRP2) and BIOCREDIT Malaria Ag Pf (pLDH) - to address these drawbacks. The BIOCREDIT Malaria Ag Pf/Pv (pLDH/pLDH) is a combo test that detects P. falciparum and P. vivax on a single device. BIOCREDIT Malaria Ag Pf (pLDH/HRP2) targets both PfLDH and HRP2 antigens in P. falciparum; and BIOCREDIT Malaria Ag Pf (pLDH) has improved detection of pLDH in P. falciparum. In countries with circulation of hrp2/3 deleted P. falciparum malaria parasites or high P. vivax burden, these improved RDTs may be invaluable in malaria elimination. This study is a prospective and retrospective evaluation of RapiGEN's BIOCREDIT Malaria Ag RDTs in malaria-endemic countries to assess their clinical performance for detection of malaria. The purpose of this study is to provide a high level outline of the study design and conduct to support the collation of a data package for WHO Pre-Qualification proposed study.
The study will assess the effect of multiple doses of itraconazole, a strong CYP3A4/5 inhibitor, on the PK of ganaplacide and lumefantrine in healthy participants. This study will provide data that is relevant for advice regarding possible concomitant medications that are inhibitors of CYP3A4/5 in future clinical studies with ganaplacide and lumefantrine and for potential future labeling considerations
Annually, malaria affects an estimated 229 million people, causing 409,000 deaths (WHO 2019) mostly in Africa. Despite a substantial decline in malaria-related maternal and child deaths in recent years, progress in controlling malaria has been slower than anticipated and uneven across countries. COVID-19-related disruption of malaria control activities will likely further slow the pace and lead to an even greater burden in the near future. One of the greatest challenges delaying progress in malaria elimination is antimalarial drug resistance. Recent reports of the emergence of artemisinin-resistant parasites in parts of Africa are the cause of even greater concern, since the loss of frontline treatment efficacy could bring about a dramatic reversal of progress. Large-scale genetic surveillance of Plasmodium is an effective tool for rapid detection of changes in drug efficacy, enabling countries to switch to effective preventive and curative treatments when necessary. The implementation of genetic surveillance has proven very successful in small, low malaria burden countries. However, in large, high malaria burden countries such implementation is operationally and economically more complex. Screening pregnant women attending Antenatal Care (ANC) services can be a practical and economical strategy for estimating malariometric parameters, with fewer limitations and challenges than conventional survey methodologies in children. The present study aims to demonstrate that this is also true for the genetic surveillance of antimalarial drug resistance.
The primary objectives of this study are to assess the safety and feasibility of blood-stage controlled human P. vivax malaria infection (CHMI) in healthy adult Thai volunteers through experimental injection of cryopreserved P. vivax infected erythrocytes, and to choose the optimal inoculation dose for future P. vivax CHMI studies. In this study, blood-stage CHMI will be conducted in 8 volunteers per inoculum stock who will each be infected with P. vivax by experimental injection with cryopreserved P. vivax infected erythrocytes, which were collected from the controlled human Plasmodium vivax malaria infection model through experimental sporozoite infection in Thai adults (NCT04083508) . There are currently 2 stocks of inocula from 2 volunteers in the NCT04083508 study, which have differing quantities and stages of parasites. The total number of volunteers of this study will be up to 16 (8 volunteers per inocula stock). The volunteers will be monitored closely as in-patients in the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, and will be treated according to the Research Proposal. This study is funded by the UK Wellcome Trust. The grant reference number are Oxford/MORU: 212336/Z/18/Z and 212336/Z/18/A, and Mahidol University: 212336/A/18/Z and 212336/A/18/A.
In Niger, malaria is a major public health problem. It is the main cause of morbidity and mortality among children. The management of malaria cases is based on the principle of early diagnosis and rapid treatment with effective drugs. It is confronted with the appearance of strains resistant to antimalarial drugs, hence the need to monitor antimalarial drug sensitivity. The study was conducted in three regions representing epidemiological strata of the country: Agadez (Centre de santé Intégré of Dagamanet in the Health district of Agadez), Maradi (Centre de santé intégré of Guindaoua in Tessaoua) and Dosso (Centre de santé Intégré centre in Gaya). The protocol used is the WHO standardized protocol of 2009. Artemether/Lumefantrine (AL) was administered with a 28-day follow-up in children aged 3 months to 15 years. A Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) correction is planned to differentiate between treatment failure and re-infestation as well as a study of genes responsible for resistance on the main drugs used.
Artemether-lumefantrine (AL) was adopted as first-line antimalarial therapy in Kenya in 2006, and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) as the second-line therapy in 2010. In order to monitor the efficacy and potential development of resistance of Plasmodium falciparum parasites to these two drugs, we will conduct an in-vivo study to monitor the efficacy of these antimalarial therapies. A standardized World Health Organization (WHO) in-vivo efficacy study will be conducted in western Kenya among children 6-59 months of age with symptomatic, uncomplicated malaria visiting the out-patient department of hospitals and/or clinics in western Kenya. In this study, 350 children will be randomly assigned to be treated with either AL or DP. Clinical, parasitologic, and hematologic parameters will be monitored over a 42-day follow-up period. Molecular analysis will be conducted to determine the frequency of markers of antimalarial resistance, and to differentiate recrudescence from reinfection. Results from this antimalarial drug efficacy study will be used to assist the Kenya national malaria control program (NMCP) in evaluating the national malaria treatment policy.
Although Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax), one of the five malaria species causing parasites, has the widest geographical distribution, it is rare in sub-Saharan Africa due to the absence of a red blood cell receptor (Duffy antigen) in black Africans. Duffy-negative individuals are, for the most part, therefore refractory to P. vivax infection and the Duffy-negative phenotype is found at highest frequencies in Africa, whereas it is relatively rare elsewhere. P. vivax has however, been observed as single infections in up to 5% of Duffy-negative febrile patients in one health facility in Dschang, a region of low malaria transmission in Western highlands of Cameroon. Whereas in the littoral South West and Southern forest of Cameroon characterised by high malaria transmission, areas, there are contrasting molecular evidence of human P. vivax infection. While important, the significance is limited from an epidemiological point of view, concerning the source, transmission, distribution range of P. vivax. There is thus a challenge in the true estimation of malaria burden, as well as the attributable parasite species in infections occurring in the low transmission areas of Western Cameroon. As a consequence, our understanding of the local epidemiology of malaria in Western Cameroon warrants formal investigation. The current proposal is a multi-centre observational study. Its purpose is to characterise the malaria species composition and particularly exposure and burden of P. vivax across malaria endemic settings in Cameroon. It will use multiplex serological methods based on quantitative suspension array on finger-stick blood samples collected from febrile patients of ages 1-100 during two malaria transmission seasons in different eco-climatic regions in Cameroon.