Human Hookworm Vaccine Initiative Overview

The Promise of a Vaccine

The promise of the world’s first-ever hookworm vaccine is of critical importance not only for the millions suffering from the disease, but also for the global community as a whole. More than a half-billion people worldwide are infected with hookworm, including 44 million pregnant women, and an additional 3.2 billion are at risk of infection. Chronic hookworm infections are a leading global cause of anemia and protein malnutrition, which can lead to learning disabilities and poor school performance for children; It has been estimated that hookworm can cause a 43% reduction in future wage-earnings in some affected areas, Moreover, in pregnancy hookworm causes increased rates of low birth-weight babies, infant mortality and morbidity.

Hookworm is an intestinal parasite most commonly found in tropical and sub-tropical climates of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Hookworm, one of three members of a family of parasites known as the soil-transmitted helminthes (STH’s), are half-inch long worms that attach themselves to the intestinal wall and feed on human blood. Left untreated, hookworm causes severe intestinal blood loss leading to iron-deficiency anemia and protein malnutrition, particularly in pregnant women and children. Children suffering from chronic hookworm infections have a 23 percent drop in school attendance, and are at increased risk for physical and cognitive impairments which can lead to learning disabilities and poor school performance.

The Human Hookworm Vaccine Initiative (HHVI), an international product development partnership based at the Sabin Vaccine Institute, was established in 2000 to develop the world’s first-ever safe, affordable, multivalent recombinant vaccine against human hookworm infection. The successful development of the hookworm vaccine will not only represent an important public health breakthrough, but also a key step towards the United Nations Millennium Development Goal for sustainable poverty reduction.

HHVI’s unique partnership includes several leading organizations around the world: The George Washington University (USA); Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Brazil); The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (United Kingdom), The Queensland Institute of Medical Research (Australia); and the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Institute of Parasite Diseases (China). In addition, the HHVI has partnered with Instituto Butantan, a public sector vaccine manufacturer in Brazil that may eventually manufacture and distribute the vaccine. USA-based cGMP clinical vaccine manufacture is based at The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (USA), a biomedical research laboratory.

Related Resources

• About the Vaccine