A three-arm randomized trial conducted by Ivo Mueller of the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, Madang, Papua New Guinea, and colleagues among infants in Papua New Guinea estimates the preventive effect against malaria episodes of intermittent preventive treatment, in an area where children are exposed to both falciparum and vivax malaria. Their findings, published in this week's PLoS Medicine, show that intermittent preventive treatment given during infancy at the time of routine immunizations using a combination of long-lasting antimalarial drugs can effectively and safely prevent malaria in a non-African population living in a region where P. falciparum and P. vivax are both highly endemic.
Source: Public Library of Science