Scientists at the Welcome Trust's Sanger institute believe they have taken a big step forward in developing a vaccine against malaria, a disease that costs the lives of 800,000 people every year.

Dr Julian Rayner, part of the research whose findings are published in The Lancet, says the idea is to create a vaccine that would "pre-prime the patient with antibodies" making the immune system ready to block parasites invading red blood cells.

The first human trials, he said, could be taking place in the next two years.

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