AdFalciVax Malaria Vaccine 

Context : The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has announced a promising candi-date vaccine for malaria, which it will now further develop, test and manufacture for commercial purposes in partnership with private companies and has invited bids for the same.

UPSC relevance: Various questions have been previously asked regarding diseases in prelims examination.

Prelims 2013

Which of the following diseases can be transmitted from one person to another through tattooing?

1.Chikungunya

2. Hepatitis B

3. NW-AIDS

Select the correct answer using the codes given below.

A 1 only

B 2 and 3 only

C 1 and 3 only

D 1, 2 and 3

Prelims 2022

In the context of vaccines manufactured to prevent COVID-19 pandemic, consider the following statements :

1. The Serum Institute of India produced COVID-19 vaccine named Covishield using mRNA platform.
2. Sputnik V vaccine is manufactured using vector based platform.
3. COVAXIN is an inactivated pathogen based vaccine.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

D 1, 2 and 3

A 1 and 2 only

B 2 and 3 only

C 1 and 3 only

Malaria

Malaria cases have declined in India in past few years as per government records. However, the estimates of Malaria cases in India by the WHO are still very high as government records show only confirmed deaths.

• Caused by pathogen Plasmodium.
  • Most common source – Plasmodium Falciparum
  • In India, major source is – Plasmodium Vivax
• A parasitic infection transmitted by infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.
• Blood transfusion and contaminated needles may also transmit malaria. 
• Symptoms – Fever, chills, night sweats, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Severe complications may cause seizures, fluid in lungs, organ damage and death.
• It is preventable and curable.
• One of the deadliest diseases killing 4 lakh people annually according to WHO.
• It is mostly found in tropical countries.
• Most endemic in Africa.

AdFalciVax

Pro6C protein prevents the spread of infection in the community  by disrupting the lifecycle of the pathogen.

A chimeric recombinant vaccine– a type of vaccine that uses different parts of the genes of a pathogen (in this case, Plasmodium) to create target proteins that trigger an immune response after being injected.

• AdFalciVax uses two types of target proteins to prevent the spread of infection in two different ways:
• Circumsporozoite protein (CSP) to prevent infection in the person who has been immunised.

Difference with other vaccines like RTS,S and R21

• An adjuvant is a substance used in vaccines to boost the body’s immune response against the tar-geted disease.
• RTS,S and R21 only use the CSP protein, and can prevent infection only in vaccinated persons.
• Unlike AdFalciVax, RTS,S and R21 vaccines also do not use full-length CSP proteins. This is why the ICMR’s candidate vaccine – AdFalciVax is “likely to produce a stronger immune response and better protect against infection,”
• Unlike RTS,S and R21, whose efficacy is just 75%, the AdFalciVax has been found 90% effective in animal trials so far.
  • AdFalciVax uses Alum as an adjuvant that does not pose a risk of causing chronic inflammation unlike the AS01 and Matrix M adjuvants used in RTS,S and R21 vaccines.