Global health R&D at work in Rhode Island
Rhode Island Hospital’s Center for International Health Research (CIHR) is working on solutions to two of the world’s two most devastating parasitic diseases. Of all parasitic infections, malaria is the leading killer. Efforts at CIHR have yielded three vaccine candidates in the development pipeline. Second only to malaria is schistosomiasis, an infection of flatworms that damages human organs and impairs development in children. While it can be treated, a vaccine is badly needed. CIHR and partners have developed a vaccine candidate that works in mice and is showing promise in water buffalo, a major transmitter.