A malaria vaccine could soon become a reality after scientists have developed a temporary treatment which can now keep people protected for a full year.
Incredibly, there is still no vaccine for malaria despite the fact that it kills up to half a million people every year while infecting millions more.
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Photographed and edited by Janos Csongor Kerekes via Getty Images
While the duration of effect is important, the vaccine also had another incredibly powerful side-effect which was that it gave people 'sterile protection'.
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Color enhanced Transmission Electron Micrograph (TEM) showing malaria (Plasmodium cathemerium) infecting blood. Magnification unknown.
Omikron via Getty Images
This means that those affected would no longer be able to get malaria or even pass it on as a carrier, massively hindering malaria's ability to spread quickly.
"These results are really important," said Kirsten E. Lyke, a researcher at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "Malaria has such a devastating effect on children, especially in Africa. This vaccine has the potential to help travelers, military personnel and children in malaria-endemic areas."
The hope is that this temporary vaccine can be used not only as a first step towards a permanent vaccine but also as a weapon in its current form for halting the fast-paced spread of the disease.
Astonishing Science Photos From The Last Decade:
2015
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Martin Le-May
A baby weasel took the ride of a lifetime on the back of a green woodpecker in Hornchurch Country Park in East London. Photographer Martin Le-May just happened to be lucky enough to capture the moment on March 2, 2015.
2014
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NASA, ESA, H. Teplitz and M. Rafelski (IPAC/Caltech), A. Koekemoer (STScI), R. Windhorst (Arizona State University), and Z. Levay (STScI)
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope assembled a comprehensive picture of the evolving universe -- among the most colorful deep space images ever captured by the 25-year-old telescope. The image was released on June 3, 2014.
2013
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NASA
NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins snapped a selfie while completing a spacewalk outside of the Earth-orbiting International Space Station on Dec. 24, 2013.
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2012
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Hadoram Shirihai/Tubenoses project
A rare Mascarene petrel with an egg-shaped bulge in its middle. Photographed in 2012 by researchers near Reunion, an island off the coast of Madagascar, it was said to be the first to show a bird flying with a visible "baby bump."
2011
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Wikimedia Commons: Wtop.com
In 2011, a female Celebes crested macaque (Macaca nigra) in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, decided to pick up British wildlife photographer David Slater's camera and take a selfie.
2010
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NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)
A stunning scanning electron micrograph of a human T lymphocyte (also called a T cell) from the immune system of a healthy donor, taken on May 24, 2010.
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2009
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Sung Hoon Kang, Joanna Aizenberg and Boaz Pokroy; Harvard University
An electron microscope photograph shows self-assembling hair-like polymers around a polystyrene sphere, about two micrometers in diameter. It won first place in the National Science Foundation's 2009 International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge.
2008
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NASA
Hurricane Ike covers more than half of Cuba. It was taken by the Expedition 17 crew aboard the International Space Station from a vantage point of 220 miles above Earth, on September 9, 2008.
2007
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Gloria Kwon/NIKON Small World
A close-up look at a double transgenic mouse embryo, just 18.5 days old. The photo won first place in Nikon's 2007 Small World Photomicrography Competition.