Welsh uni scientists help to discover possible treatment for deadly malaria

Mar 24 2008 Robin Turner, Western Mail

WELSH scientists are close to developing a new vaccine and treatment for one of the world’s most deadly diseases.

Academics at Swansea University believe a breakthrough in their research into malaria could save millions of lives.

The discovery centres around a related but more mild blood disease, called alpha-thalassaemia.

This is an inherited blood disorder whose symptoms are mild anaemia, but those who have the disease also appear to have protection against severe forms of malaria, caused by a mosquito- borne parasite.

Now Dr Steve Allen and Dr Angela Allen from Swansea University’s School of Medicine, along with Professor Karen Day from New York University and colleagues, believe they have found a mechanism that might contribute to this protection.

The key appears to be in the abnormally large number of small red blood cells which characterises alpha-thalassaemia, which is particularly common in people from Africa and South-East Asia.

Dr Allen, Reader in Paediatrics at Swansea’s School of Medicine said, “The work was generated out of an extensive research project in Papua New Guinea on the relation between alpha-thalassaemia and malaria.

“The analysis of how malaria is different in people with abnormal red blood cell traits gives us great insight into disease mechanisms that are useful for both prevention (including development of novel vaccines) and treatment of malaria.”

Malaria has plagued man since ancient times and nowadays it is estimated to threaten 40% of the world’s population, mostly in poor tropical and sub-tropical countries.

No one knows for sure how many people contract the disease and estimates vary.

The latest official study puts the figure at between 350 million and 500 million a year.

Malaria is preventable and curable, but can be fatal if not treated promptly.

It kills more than a million people a year – mostly young children in sub-Saharan Africa – and is a factor in many other deaths.

Malaria got its name – literally meaning bad air – because of a belief that foul vapours from swamps were to blame.

Proof that microscopic mosquito parasites were the cause came just over 100 years ago.

Although malaria has been eradicated from temperate regions, travellers can catch and bring back “imported malaria”. And, more rarely, cases of “airport malaria” occur, blamed on mosquitoes aboard aircraft returning from infected areas.

Dr Allen said, “Children with alpha-thalassaemia have adapted to the loss of red blood cells associated with malarial disease by making more red blood cells – even these have less haemoglobin which leads to mild anaemia.

“These children do better because they end up with more haemoglobin overall when they have a malaria attack compared to normal children. It is really remarkable and so simple.”

The research was based on an earlier study conducted by Steve and Angela Allen using blood samples from more than 800 children in Papua New Guinea. Seven out of 10 children in the country have alpha- thalassaemia.

Dr Angela Allen, lecturer at Swansea School of Medicine, said, “The Papua New Guinea study was the first to demonstrate the protective role of alpha-thalassaemia against severe malaria. These findings have been further supported by subsequent work in Kenya and Tanzania.

“Now our new findings suggest a possible mechanism by which alpha-thalassaemia may contribute to protection against severe malarial anaemia.”