Scientists have developed an effective vaccine against malaria, using the mRNA technology first seen in the successful Covid-19 vaccines.

The vaccine uses mRNA to teach the human body how to make a small portion of the parasite that causes malaria, allowing the immune system to recognise it and learn how to fight it.

In results published by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, USA, the team showed that mice given the vaccine had high levels of protection from malaria infection.

The World Mosquito Programme, a non-profit organisation dedicated to tackling diseases spread by mosquitoes, recently published a dramatically successful trial aiming to reduce dengue fever infections in Indonesia.

Mosquitoes infected with a bacterium that can prevent viruses from replicating were released and led to a 77% reduction in the number of dengue fever cases thanks to the prevention of the dengue fever virus passing from mosquito to human.