Tests for inhalable measles vaccine

A NEW vaccine,a dry powder that can be inhaled directly into the lungs,has offered hope of saving about 10 per cent of the nearly two lakh children who die of measles and related complications in India every year.

The new vaccine,developed by Robert Sievers of Colorado University,unlike vaccines administered through injection,may reduce the risk of infection from unsterilised needles and may also prove more effective against the disease,experts at the Pune-based Serum Institute of India said. The institute will conduct human trials,involving 30 adults,to testify the effectiveness of the vaccine next year,Executive Director of the institute,Dr S S Jadhav said. The vaccine is prepared by mixing a weakened measles virus with super critical part gas,part liquid carbon dioxide to produce microscopic bubbles and droplets,which dry into powder.

Meanwhile,a World Health Organisation (WHO) sponsored project involving National Institute of Virology (NIV) and KEM hospital in Pune has already completed first phase of clinical trials for an intra-nasal liquid measles vaccine. “We got good results in the first phase of clinical trials conducted at KEM hospital,” said NIV Director Dr A C Mishra. He said the second phase of trials will see whether the liquid vaccine is equally protective and efficient as the regular measles vaccine.

The purpose,health officials said,is to do away with injectible vaccines for measles — a leading cause of child deaths in India. The disease claims about 500 children every day,and only 66 per cent children,less than 50 per cent in some states,are vaccinated against the disease. “Hence the search for a non-injectible vaccine,” said Mishra.