Study of the safety and immunogenicity of the synthetic malaria SPf66 vaccine in children aged 1-14 years.

Safety and immunogenicity tests of the SPf66 malaria vaccine have been carried out on a population of children, aged 1 to 14 years, in the town of Tumaco, Colombia. Adverse reactions measured after each vaccination were local and minimal, and observed in only a small percentage of the vaccinated children. One year later, no delayed reaction was evident. The majority of the child population developed high antibody titres against SPf66 and the degree of response did not vary with age. These induced antibodies recognize the native parasite proteins, in particular the molecules from which the amino acid sequence of this vaccine was deduced. These studies demonstrate that the SPf66 vaccine is safe and highly immunogenic for use in children greater than 1 year old.