Tastes like yogurt?
Washington, March 18 (IANS) Instead of dreaded injections, getting vaccinated against disease may become as tasty as drinking a yogurt smoothie. A researcher from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine has developed a new oral vaccine using probiotics, the healthy bacteria found in dairy products like yogurt and cheese. He has successfully used the approach in a preclinical study to create immunity to anthrax exposure. He also is using the method to develop a breast cancer vaccine and vaccines for various infectious diseases. This new generation vaccine has big benefits beyond eliminating the pain factor. Delivering the vaccine to the gut – rather than injecting it into a muscle – harnesses the full power of the body’s primary immune force, which is located in the small intestine. There are other advantages to the new oral vaccine. Probiotics, which are natural immune stimulators, eliminate the need for a chemical in traditional vaccines that inflames the immune system
