I was infected with malaria today. Isn't that the best clickbait? It is actually true, though. I volunteered to be in a vaccine trial earlier this spring. After three doses of the experimental vaccine and many doctors visits, it was time to test the efficacy, something they call the "challenge."
Reducing malaria has been a cause I've supported for years. A Facebook ad offered me a chance to sign up for a medical trial. When I found out it was for malaria, I signed on the dotted line. I mean, after reading the thirty pages of Institutional Review Board documentation, of course.
The challenge meant exposing my arm to a cup of malaria-infected mosquitoes until I had the requistite number of bites. For the next three weeks I'll go in every day, while they monitor my blood for signs of the parasite. The plan is that they'll treat infection before I even have symptoms, but at the end I'll get treatment even if I don't show any symptoms.
I have learned enough to know that this malaria vaccine will probably fail, as many have before, but it still feels good to possibly contribute in a small way.
8 comments:
Very brave, but thank you for your support of science and modern medicine!
I don't think I would be as willing to submit myself willingly to getting the disease if I was feeling that the vaccine was likely to fail.
That reminds me of the summer I spent at NIH in Bethesda MD. What I remember was more like an allergy test - lots of little pokes of stuff into my arm. Then wait to see what happens.
Crossing my fingers for you...!
Did you see that the FDA approved one today for the first time ever?!?! So maybe yours will work after all! Your neighbor can no longer say, “they never work”.
Yes, I did see that the WHO approved a malaria vaccine, which is awesome news. However, it has efficacy of 40-50% in year one and drops to 0% by year four, so there's definitely scope for improvement. Still, yay for science!
A selfless act - you are very brave
omg! And the itch of the bug bites on top of all that.
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