[tcmgpt13]

Wow, four years is a long time and I had forgotten about this thread until someone was reading it this a.m. So I looked into some research to find out if there is anything new on the horizon in the parasite treatment research being done by one of the research institutes mentioned in the 2005 article linked in the first post here.

There is some promise that a new malarial vaccine will be produced which may arrest infection in the liver and blood stage of malaria using late stage-arresting genetically attenuated parasites. I am not certain this new promising vaccine will do much if someone already has malaria but at least research is being done to prevent malaria which kills many people every year in developing nations. Evidently what has been learned so far about this research is that Stage 1 trials of the early liver stage-arresting genetically attenuated parasites have shown validity for going in the direction to develop a vaccine which will work against all the stages of malaria (late stage liver development is especially important) and all the different types of malaria organisms.

Although it seems like this information would not affect us directly it is possible it might as malaria is probably more widespread in some areas of developed nations than is currently acknowledged by various governments. Also if there are shared genes in at least three types of deadly parasites it is possible that if Morgellons does have a so far unidentified blood or lymph parasite (not saying that is definite either) then whatever it may be could also share genes with these three identified parasites. I am not saying this is so, merely speculating that parasite research like this could some day help us too, if it proves to work as they expect (no guarantees about this either, not when all the information so far is based on mouse models). Of course a commonly shared parasite for those exhibiting Morgellons symptoms would also have to be identified:

New Study Shows Promise of Late Liver Stage-Arresting Genetically Attenuated Parasites Date: Thu, 06/16/2011

SEATTLE, WA, June 15, 2011 – In a study published this week in Cell Host & Microbe, researchers from Seattle BioMed and the University of Iowa report results that underscore the potential of late liver stagearresting genetically attenuated parasites (GAP) as broadly protective next-generation live-attenuated malaria vaccine candidates. The new study shows potential as a powerful model for identifying antigens to generate protection, not only in the liver stage of the disease but in the blood stage as well.

While subunit malaria vaccines have shown partial efficacy in clinical trials, the ability to use the entire parasite as a vaccine by weakening it through radiation has proven effective in decades past – but provides a challenge because of the variability involved in the approach. Stefan Kappe, Ph.D., director of Seattle BioMed’s malaria research program, has previusly developed a vaccination strategy using early liver stage-arresting genetically attenuated parasites. The validity of this approach (using two gene deletions) has been shown in Phase I human clinical studies, demonstrating that the human malaria parasite can be severely attenuated.

According to Kappe, this study is the next step in the scientific research continuum – providing new knowledge that will be put to use in next generation vaccine candidate developments to provide even greater protection. The ultimate goal is to develop a ‘watertight’ vaccine to provide full protection against malaria at the lowest possible dose,” he said. This study provides us with a very important piece of new information.

The study reports that, using mouse malaria models, researchers discovered that immunization with late liver stage arresting GAP provided superior and long-lasting protection against liver-stage infection when compared with irradiated parasites or early liver-stage arresting GAP. Rather than dying right after they reach the liver as the early arresting stage GAP or irradiated parasites currently do, the late liver stage arresting GAP infects, grows significantly and then dies, expressing a broader array of new antigens, Kappe explained. This is the next generation of GAP – the best we’ve seen because the diversity of protection is unmatched.

The late liver stage arresting GAP also provided protection at the critical blood stage of infection (when an infected human develops the classic symptoms of malaria) – and across different malaria parasite species. Protective Immunizations in this study were also achieved via intradermal or subcutaneous routes, as opposed to past studies, which utilized only intravenous routes.

Collectively, our data indicates that late liver stage arresting GAP constitute a superior strategy, stated Kappe and co-author John Harty of the University of Iowa. This underscores the potential utility of late-arresting GAP as broadly protective second-generation live-attenuated malaria vaccine candidates, as well as a model to find new vaccine candidates that protect against infection in both the liver and the blood stages of the disease.

From Seattle Bio Med press release page