Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - Malaria is a deadly killer. According to WHO (World Health Organization), over 1,000,000 people, many of them young children, die each year due to a malaria infection. While the development of the "ultimate" malaria vaccine may be some time off, Michael J. Roy, University of Wisconsin-Platteville alumnus, is helping to make progress toward that end.

In 1966, when Roy was a second year biology student at UWP, he took a course in parasitology, taught by professor Tom Rouse. The class sparked Roy's interest in the subject, and after he graduated in 1969 with a biology major and chemistry minor, he went on to study tropical medicine and medical parasitology at the Louisiana State University medical school, where he graduated with a master of science in 1971.

Roy was commissioned into the Army the day after graduation, and spent the next four years as a parasitologist in the US Army. Stationed in Landstuhl, Germany, he was able to study the effects of various parasites, including malaria, in soldiers, airmen and sailors returning from Vietnam and in Peace Corps workers. When he returned from duty, he attended graduate school at UW-Madison in pathology and completed his postdoctoral work in immunology.

After graduation, Roy worked as a scientist for the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, where he devoted his time to developing vaccines and went on to develop vaccines at two biotechnology firms. He also spent 24 years with the US Army Reserves, diagnosing highly infectious diseases at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease at Fort Detrick, Md. And for the past few years, he's worked as a consultant to the biotechnology industry, primarily in malaria and hookworm vaccine development.

An infectious disease caused by parasitic Plasmodia and transmitted to humans by female mosquitoes, malaria may cause fever, anemia, chills or flu-like symptoms. In severe cases, it may result in coma or death. There is no highly effective vaccine for the disease, even though preventative drugs do exist, but these are often too expensive for people who live in endemic areas. Other major current prevention strategies for malaria attempt to disrupt the transmission cycle of malaria. Bed nets are used to prevent mosquitoes from biting sleeping humans, while DDT spraying and the draining of wet areas may help to destroy mosquito breeding habitats. These methods do have some drawbacks, however. "People must use these devices, and humans in all cultures and socioeconomic levels seem to be remiss about consistently using these things," says Roy.

For the people who contract malaria, there are treatments on the market. Drugs such as chloroquine or pyrimethamine may help to curb the infection. But as parasitic resistance to these drugs has become a problem in recent years, the development of an effective, inexpensive malaria vaccine may be crucial to preventing the disease in the future, particularly in areas that cannot afford the more expensive treatments or preventative methods.

"Vaccination does not require one to do something each night, as is the case with bed nets, and they are compatible with the environment, unlike DDT or drainage of wetlands," says Roy. "For a protective vaccine, one need only get the vaccination once, or with two boosters."

Unfortunately, creating an effective vaccine is not always a simple task. Researchers must extensively study the parasite and its interactions with the human body before applying that knowledge toward developing an effective vaccine. The vaccine must then be tested on animal models and approved before it can be tested and then commercially used in humans. Roy is involved with two of the major malaria vaccine development efforts currently in existence: The Malaria Vaccine Technology Roadmap and the Malaria Vaccine Initiative. While researchers are still searching for an "ultimate" vaccine, breakthroughs with less effective vaccines may prove beneficial.

Notes Roy, "Today we do not look for malaria vaccines to totally protect from malaria infection ... instead we want the malaria vaccine to reduce the incidence of disease and death."

One of the vaccines Roy has recently helped develop has had positive results against Plasmodium falciparum, which is the leading cause of malaria in Africa.

"While the protective efficacy is lower than we would want to see in the 'ultimate' vaccine, we are heartened by this breakthrough. It strongly suggests that we will ultimately defeat the parasite with a vaccine," adds Roy.

Contact: Michael J. Roy, UWP alumnus,mroy@tds.net> Prepared by: Kym Bliven, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194,blivenk@uwplatt.edu