On the Hunt for a Malaria Vaccine

Our guest expert this week is Dr. Jonathan Kurtis, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the Brown University School of Public Health. Dr. Kurtis studies various neglected tropical diseases, including malaria, and is working to identify and define possible vaccines for them. Co-hosts Dr. Jim McDonald and Dr. Philip Chan ask Dr. Kurtis about his research findings, the history of neglected tropical diseases, and why malaria case rates continue to increase. According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest malaria report, there were an estimated 627,000 malaria deaths worldwide in 2020, which is a 12 percent increase over 2019. Although case rates in the United States are low—about 2,000 a year—malaria is the top killer of children younger than 5 across the world.  How do neglected tropical diseases spread? Why isn’t there already an effective vaccine against malaria? Download this week’s episode to learn more.