A new immunological technique - patients infected with malaria are treated with prophylactic chloroquinine - can confer immunity against re-infection of at least 2.5 years, longer than normal (naturally acquired immunity) *. The findings are reported in the article Online First and the upcoming Lancet, written by Professor Robert W Sauerwein, Radboud University Medical Centre Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and colleagues.
In a previous study by the same group showed that immunity against infection with Plasmodium falciparum can be induced (experiment on volunteers who have never been immunized malaria) through the bite of infected mosquitoes and prevent disease with prophylactic chloroquine. But it was not known how long the immunity lasted perhaps the last, 2.5 years later, these authors have completed advanced studies.
