By IANS
Washington : An aerosol version of the common TB vaccine offers enhanced protection against the disease than a comparable dose of the injected vaccine, a new study has found.
The aerosol vaccine, being developed under a collaboration between Harvard University and Medicine in Need (MEND), offers hope to millions of afflicted people with a low-cost, needle-free treatment that is also highly stable at room temperature.
The latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences carries a report on the new vaccine.
Administered to 100 million infants annually, the current Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine for TB is the world’s most widely administered childhood vaccine.
Dried into a powder by freezing and delivered by needle injection, the vaccine requires refrigerated storage and has shown variable degrees of protection against TB in different parts of the world.
These limitations have prompted calls from public health experts and physicians for alternative treatments.
“Rising rates of TB and drug-resistant disease in developing countries have amply illustrated the need for more effective vaccines,” said David Edwards of Harvard University.
“While most new TB vaccines continue to call for needle injection, our vaccine could provide safer, more consistent protection by eliminating these injections and the need for refrigerated storage. We see great promise for this new treatment,” he added.
According to Barry R. Bloom of Harvard: “TB is one of the most resistant and challenging diseases to protect against, and the successful results of aerosol delivery using nanoparticle technology offers a potentially new platform for immunization.