On February 27th Andrew and Carolyn spoke to Neil Stockton on Radio Cherwell – the Oxford hospital radio station – about controlled human malaria infection (CHMI) trials and their role in vaccine development. For blood-stage malaria work, CHMI studies involve “inoculating” participants with a limited number of malaria parasite-infected red blood cells and closely monitoring parasite growth over the following days or weeks. Participants are treated with effective anti-malarials if parasite numbers reach a pre-defined level, or if they show early symptoms or reach the end of the follow-up period even without any detectable parasite growth. CHMI studies are a really useful tool for learning about responses to vaccination and infection with relatively small number of study participants, and have been run safely in Oxford and elsewhere for many years.
The Draper group is actively recruiting for two ongoing trials, BIO-004 (includes CHMI) and BIO-001 (no CHMI).
Have a listen to learn more about challenge models and how to get involved!
