Washington, Aug 24 - A malaria vaccine, the first of its kind, will be ready for human trials early next year, a researcher said. It has worked perfectly in trials with mice.

The vaccine was developed through collaboration between researchers from the US, Japan and Canada.

Malaria kills more than one million people worldwide every year and destroys -- through premature death and disability -- the equivalent of at least 35 million years of healthy, productive human life every year.

Alan Cowman, who heads the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute's Infection and Immunity division, said in developing the vaccine his team had deleted two key genes in the Plasmodium falciparum parasite -- which causes the form of malaria most deadly to humans.

By removing the genes, the malaria parasite is halted during its liver infection phase, preventing it from spreading to the blood stream where it can cause severe disease and death.

Cowman, a professor, said similar vaccines had been tested in mice and offered 100 percent protection against malaria infection.