A scientific team successfully tested a vaccine against the flu that is applied in a patch or band-aid that neither pricks nor hurts.
This technology tested for terrified and older children with needle phobia has just passed several important safety tests in the first clinical trials with humans.
The patch has on its adhesive side a hundred thin microneedles like hair that can penetrate the most superficial layers of the skin but do not cause pain. Regular flu shots are injected with needles that advance to the muscle.
In addition, these patch vaccines are simple enough for anyone to apply to themselves. Researchers who developed it believe that this technology could help increase immunization of the population, including that of patients who fear the needles.
Does not need cold
The other great advantage of this patch flu shot is that it does not need to be stored cold like traditional vaccines, so pharmacies could potentially store them on their shelves for sale.
Volunteers who tested it said they preferred it to injections.
It offers the same protection as a regular but painless flu vaccine, according to the US team that developed it, Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology, with funding from the US National Institutes of Health.
How does it work
"If you look at it under the microscope, what you see is small needles at a microscopic level. They prick the skin without causing pain," lead researcher Mark Prausnitz, who is also part of a company that wants authorization use of technology.
In one study, his team tested the vaccine on patch and injections in 100 volunteers. Those who applied the patch did so for 20 minutes.
Most said the band of tiny needles was painless, although some experienced minor side effects, such as redness, itching and tenderness in the area of the skin where it had been applied. These symptoms improved on their own as the days went by.
Potentially revolutionary
Beyond the flu, experts say the patch could revolutionize how vaccines are given, but more clinical trials are still needed before this immunization system is approved for widespread use.
We can imagine vaccination at home, at work or even distribution by mail. Dr. Nadine Rouphael. University of Emory.
The bandage may be discarded in the trash after use because the microneedles dissolve. And because it can be stored for a year safely and without refrigeration, it could be extremely useful in the developing world.
British public health experts said the patch can also be very useful for immunizing younger children who tend to be afraid of needles, although in the UK they already use a flu vaccine in the form of a nasal spray.
John Edmunds, an infectious disease expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "This study is certainly an important step towards a better way to administer vaccines in the future".
Other scientific teams have also been working in different ways to apply painless vaccines. A microneedle injection has already been approved for use in the United States, while in Australia researchers developed a nanopatch with needles even smaller than those of this flu vaccine.
SOURCE: BBC
