A human was successfully ‘vaccinated’ against malaria by a container full of genetically modified mosquitoes in a trial funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The study involved around 200 hungry mozzies biting the arms of human guinea pigs.
The Human participants placed their arms directly over a small container full of the bloodsucking creatures.
“We use the mosquitoes like they’re 1,000 small flying syringes,” said researcher Dr. Sean Murphy.
Activist Post reports: Three to five “vaccinations” took place over 30-day intervals.
The mosquitoes gave minor versions of malaria that didn’t make people sick, but gave them antibodies. Efficacy from the antibodies lasted a few months.
“Half of the individuals in each vaccine group did not develop detectable P. falciparum infection, and a subset of these individuals was subjected to a second CHMI 6 months later and remained partially protected. These results support further development of genetically attenuated sporozoites as potential malaria vaccines,” researchers concluded.
Carolina Reid was one of twenty-six participants in the study.
“My whole forearm swelled and blistered. My family was laughing, asking like, ‘why are you subjecting yourself to this?’”
Reid enjoyed her experience so much that she says she wants to participate in as many vaccine trials as she can. For this research, each participant received $4,100 as an incentive.
Adverse reactions were what one would expect after getting bit by hundreds of mosquitos and nothing more.
Dr. Kirsten Lyke calls the research “a total game changer.”
Lyke led the phase 1 trials for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine and was a co-investigator for Moderna and Novavax COVID vaccines.
Researchers say the genetically modified mosquitoes will not be used at large to vaccinate millions of people. The reason why mosquitos were used instead of syringes, they claim, was to save costs.