Posted on 04/15/2005 12:15:47 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Imagine vaccinating a child against malaria by giving him a cola to drink! Scientists may soon create vaccines against a host of diseases that could be administered by mixing them with drinks and ordinary food.
Researchers at the Moredun Research Institute near Edinburgh are currently investigating a new method that allows vaccines to be administered orally rather than by injection, reports Scottish daily Scotsman.
This raises the prospect of immunising the general population with specially modified food -- something that could be particularly useful in third world countries with few health service facilities, said John March, the head scientist of the team.
Currently, putting vaccines in food is not particularly effective because they are often destroyed in the stomach.
But March's method, which uses DNA vaccine in a harmless bacterial virus "container", has been shown to be more effective in early tests.
"Once all the development and testing work has been completed, what we hope to achieve are 'vaccines in a pill', capable of cheap, local manufacture anywhere in the world, administered without the need of cold chains, needles and dedicated medical staff," he said.
"In effect, they would be stored and bought off the shelf from the local store. Who knows? If they can be added to food and drink we may be able to vaccinate a child against malaria by giving them a drink of Coca-Cola."
March, who has been in touch with US scientists developing a genetically altered banana containing a vaccine against cervical cancer, said the developing world would benefit particularly because mass immunisation of the population would be far easier and cheaper.
"The idea is, when you eat the banana you get vaccinated against it (papilloma virus that causes the cancer). But it doesn't work very well - it gets deactivated when it goes through the stomach," he said.
March even suggested a particularly radical move - putting vaccines into cigarettes.
"This is all theoretical at this point, but you could use all the vices people have to deliver vaccines - in a beer, in a can of Coke or even in a cigarette," he said.
Jack Winkler, director of the independent Food and Health Research organisation here, said: "This is a public health issue. It's no good fortifying aubergines because not many people eat them. When you start thinking about functional food, you have to do it with something people eat.
"The answer the Japanese came up with was to put them in soft drinks and then confectionery. This drives Western nutritionists mad - to them this is dressing up unhealthy food, trying to make it healthy."
He said people's fear of medicating food was a 20th-century attitude. The technique is simply an extension of adding vitamins to breakfast cereals.
Oral polio vaccines were administered in a water like liquid in the 1960s.
"Thats just peachy" he said as he drank his well water.
Lets save the experiments for over THERE.
My kid's going out of the country this summer and needs some vaccinations for the trip. I was surprised that the Typhoid vaccine could either be oral or injection.
Beer needs vision correction and a contraceptive in it. JMHO
LOL
Like I needed another reason to drink beer
Yep. Mine was in a sugar cube.
Before proceeding with this, we should find out if beer or cola cause autism.
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