Professor Nasiru Shu’aibu of the Biochemical Parasitology Department in Ahmadu Bello University, has invented a new vaccine to combat the malaria parasite.
Explaining how the vaccine works, he said a minute quantity of DNA was extracted from a mosquito.
“It is then injected into the body of the animal or human and it eventually enters the cells of the animal in the same way a virus enters and infects cells.
“The injected DNA now uses the cells in the body to produce chemicals that will prevent malaria from infecting the body,” Mr. Shu’aibu said.
He said the approach was also different from the other malaria vaccine (RTS,S/AS01) that was likely to be licensed but the goals were the same, to control and eventually eliminate malaria.
Nigeria, with an estimated population of over 170 million, constitutes the highest malaria burden in Africa and in the world.
