Washington, Feb 6 (IANS) A new vaccine has shown promise in protecting the most vulnerable patients -- young children -- against malaria, says a study.

Researchers found the vaccine stimulated strong and long-lasting immune responses in Mali children.

Actually, the antibody levels the vaccine produced were as high or even higher than the antibody levels found in adults who have naturally developed protective immune responses to the parasite over lifelong exposure to malaria.

'The findings imply that we may have achieved our goal of using a vaccine to reproduce the natural protective immunity that normally takes years of intense exposure to malaria to develop,' says Christopher V. Plowe, professor at the Centre for Vaccine Development (CVD), Maryland University.

Plowe, who led the study, is also an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist.

In places like Africa, where malaria is particularly rampant, the young are most vulnerable to the disease since they have not built up the same natural immunity as adults.

A child dies of malaria every 30 seconds, according to the World Health Organisation. There are about 300 million malaria cases worldwide each year, resulting in more than one million deaths, most of them African children, says a CVD release.

The new vaccine, called FMP2.1/AS02A, was developed as part of a longstanding research collaboration between the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals (GSK).

The study was published online on PLoS ONE.