Injections of vitamin A may bolster the immune system’s fight against malaria, especially in toddlers.

Shankar, A.H., et al. 1999. Effect of vitamin A supplementation on morbidity due to Plasmodium falciparum in young children in Papua New Guinea: A randomised trial. Lancet 354(July 17):201.

Allen, S., et al. 1995. Malaria vaccine in children under 12 months of age. Lancet 346:1555.

Binka, P.N., et al. 1995. Vitamin A supplementation and childhood malaria in northern Ghana. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 61:863.

Krogstad, D.J. 1996. Malaria as a reemerging disease. Epidemiological Review 18:77.

Menendez, C., et al. 1997. Randomised placebo-controlled trial of iron supplementation and malaria chemoprophylaxis for prevention of severe anaemia and malaria in Tanzanian infants. Lancet 350:844.

James W. Kazura
Case Western Reserve University
School of Medicine
2109 Adelbert Road
Room W137
Cleveland, OH 44106

Anuraj H. Shankar
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
School of Public Health
Division of Human Nutrition
Room 2041
615 North Wolfe Street
Baltimore, MD 21205

From Science News, Vol. 156, No. 4, July 24, 1999, p. 55. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.