YAOUNDE, Cameroon, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- International experts meeting in Cameroon are looking at administering malaria medicines pre-emptively to infants as an effective way to protect them.
Such a technique has emerged as a potentially effective way to protect young children, who account for the majority of malaria deaths.
The scientists attending the Fourth Multilateral Initiative on Pan-African Malaria Conference will evaluate the findings from the Intermittent Preventive Treatment in Infants.
"What we have at the moment is a new prevention strategy that has shown clear potential," said Andrea Egan, coordinator of the IPTi Consortium.
Another study reported at the conference showed that malaria could play a key role in mother-to-child transmission of HIV during pregnancy.
The study said biological substances known as "proinflammatory cytokines," such as TNF-alpha, found in high levels in placentas infected with malaria, could stimulate HIV replication in the placenta.
