U.S. scientists have announced a significant breakthrough in the fight against malaria after a human trial of a new vaccine was 100 per cent effective against the disease for the first time in history.

More than three dozen volunteers were given multiple doses of a vaccine produced with a weakened form of the mosquito-borne disease that kills around one million people a year.

And their results were promising: The months-long trial was 100 per cent successful in protecting all of the subjects who received the strongest dose of the vaccine.

The results, which suggest scientists could be nearing eliminating the disease, were released by researchers from the National Institutes of Health, the Navy, Army and other organizations Thursday.

The vaccine, named PfSPZ, is made from weakened sporozoites which is the form of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum when it’s in an infectious state, CNN reported on Thursday.

For the trial, the samples of the parasite were weakened by radiation and then frozen – but it remained in its whole form, which invoked a response of the patients’ immune system.

In total, 57 people took part in the trial, with 40 receiving some dose of the vaccine. All were then bitten by infectious mosquitoes and scientists tested […]