Summary
A powerful new weapon could one day join the global fight against malaria, especially to help people who need temporary protection from the deadly disease. Drugs and bed nets can to some extent already protect against the disease, which still sickens at least 200 million people a year and kills an estimated 400,000. Vaccines have also shown some promise. But an unusual study reported last week dramatized the potential of monoclonal antibodies, made by genetically engineered cells. Nine volunteers who received the antibodies were deliberately exposed to mosquitoes carrying the parasite that causes malaria. None became infected—and the protection from the antibodies appears to last for more than 6 months.