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Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/h...-could-save-thousands-of-childrens-lives.html
New needle-free measle vaccine 'could save thousands of childrens' lives'
A new needle-free measles vaccine with the potential to save thousands of children's lives is soon to be tested on patients.
Published: 7:00AM BST 17 Aug 2009
The vaccine, the first of its kind, uses an inhalable dry powder to administer a weakened measles virus to the lungs.
Doctors believe it will be more effective against the disease and avoid the risk of dirty needle infection.
The vaccine is aimed initially at the remoter regions of developing countries, which often lack electricity for refrigeration, clean water or sterile needles.
But a cheap and painless measles vaccine could also be popular in Britain, the US and other developed parts of the world.
Clinical trials are due to begin next year in India, where measles kills almost 200,000 infants annually.
Dr Robert Sievers, who led the US team which developed the vaccine, said: "Childhood vaccines that can be inhaled and delivered directly to mucosal surfaces have the potential to offer significant advantages over injection.
"Not only might they reduce the risk of infection from HIV, hepatitis and other serious diseases due to unsterilised needles, they may prove more effective against disease.
"Many serious infections, such as the measles virus, can enter the body through inhalation. Measles vaccine dry powders have the potential to effectively vaccinate infants, children and adults by inhalation, avoiding the problems associated with liquid vaccines delivered by injection."
To create the vaccine, Dr Sievers' team at the University of Colorado, used a patented process to mix measles virus particles with a special form of carbon dioxide that is part gas, part liquid.
The resulting microscopic bubbles and droplets were then dried to make an inhalable powder.
The vaccine is puffed into a small cylindrical plastic sack with a small opening.
"By taking one deep breath from the sack, a child could be effectively vaccinated," said Dr Sievers, who presented the research at the American Chemical Society's annual meeting in Washington D.C.
Animal tests showed the inhaler to be just as effective at delivering measles vaccine as a traditional jab.
The scientists say the vaccine could be produced for less than 25p a dose.
In the 1980s, a wet mist inhaled vaccine was tested on three million Mexican children during a measles outbreak.
Those who took part had a lower rate of developing measles than children given injections.
"The problem with that method was that the wet mists required power or batteries to generate the aerosol and the liquid vaccines had to be freshly made up and kept on ice and the nebuliser that delivers the dose had to be cleaned," said Dr Sievers.
"The new, inexpensive dry aerosol dispenser doesn't need to be cleaned and doesn't require power."
New needle-free measle vaccine 'could save thousands of childrens' lives'
A new needle-free measles vaccine with the potential to save thousands of children's lives is soon to be tested on patients.
Published: 7:00AM BST 17 Aug 2009
The vaccine, the first of its kind, uses an inhalable dry powder to administer a weakened measles virus to the lungs.
Doctors believe it will be more effective against the disease and avoid the risk of dirty needle infection.
The vaccine is aimed initially at the remoter regions of developing countries, which often lack electricity for refrigeration, clean water or sterile needles.
But a cheap and painless measles vaccine could also be popular in Britain, the US and other developed parts of the world.
Clinical trials are due to begin next year in India, where measles kills almost 200,000 infants annually.
Dr Robert Sievers, who led the US team which developed the vaccine, said: "Childhood vaccines that can be inhaled and delivered directly to mucosal surfaces have the potential to offer significant advantages over injection.
"Not only might they reduce the risk of infection from HIV, hepatitis and other serious diseases due to unsterilised needles, they may prove more effective against disease.
"Many serious infections, such as the measles virus, can enter the body through inhalation. Measles vaccine dry powders have the potential to effectively vaccinate infants, children and adults by inhalation, avoiding the problems associated with liquid vaccines delivered by injection."
To create the vaccine, Dr Sievers' team at the University of Colorado, used a patented process to mix measles virus particles with a special form of carbon dioxide that is part gas, part liquid.
The resulting microscopic bubbles and droplets were then dried to make an inhalable powder.
The vaccine is puffed into a small cylindrical plastic sack with a small opening.
"By taking one deep breath from the sack, a child could be effectively vaccinated," said Dr Sievers, who presented the research at the American Chemical Society's annual meeting in Washington D.C.
Animal tests showed the inhaler to be just as effective at delivering measles vaccine as a traditional jab.
The scientists say the vaccine could be produced for less than 25p a dose.
In the 1980s, a wet mist inhaled vaccine was tested on three million Mexican children during a measles outbreak.
Those who took part had a lower rate of developing measles than children given injections.
"The problem with that method was that the wet mists required power or batteries to generate the aerosol and the liquid vaccines had to be freshly made up and kept on ice and the nebuliser that delivers the dose had to be cleaned," said Dr Sievers.
"The new, inexpensive dry aerosol dispenser doesn't need to be cleaned and doesn't require power."