Reported October 17, 2011
The Flu Shot of the Future
ATLANTA, GA ( Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Got your shot yet? Flu season is gearing up, and getting vaccinated is the best way to protect yourself. Up to 20 percent of Americans will be infected, and more than 200 thousand will be hospitalized for flu-related complications this year. Now, researchers are developing ways to take the sting out of flu shots and make sure the vaccinations work for you and your family.
From medicine, to chicken soup, 61-year-old Linda Little is ready for a fight. Last winter, the flu hit home.
“It was the worst week of my life, beginning with the aches and pains, you know, you don’t want to be in pain,” Linda Little, told Ivanhoe.
But preventing the flu can be a pain, too.
“People don’t like this. People don’t like the needle,” Dimitrios Koutsonanos, M.D., a post-doctoral research fellow at Emory University School of Medicine, explained.
Researchers at Emory University and Georgia Tech may have found a better way, dozens of  microscopic needles coated or filled with vaccine, then placed on a patch like a band-aid.
“They penetrate the skin. You do not feel any pain, and the vaccine is being delivered that way,” Dr. Koutsonanos said.
For the vaccine to kick in, you wear the micro-needle patch for less than 10 minutes. In a new study, it was as effective as a shot, providing even better protection.
“They are lasting longer than the intramuscular, the systemic conventional vaccination,” Ioanna Skountzou, Ph.D., an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Emory University School of Medicine said.
But how will you respond? A new blood test developed at Emory Vaccine Center measures changes in blood cells in the first days after a flu shot and can predict whether the vaccination will actually work.
“Essentially, we would know, within say a week, whether this person will achieve a certain level of protection that would be necessary for protection,” Bali Pulendran, Ph.D., a professor of pathology at Emory Yerkes Research Center, said.
Changing the way we fight the flu, one vaccination at a time.
The micro-needle patches and the vaccination efficacy test are still experimental, but researchers believe they could be available to the public within the next five years. MORE
More Information
Click here for additional research on The Flu Shot of the Future
Click here for Ivanhoe's full-length interview with Dr. Dimitrios Koutsonanos
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Marsha Hitchcock at mhitchcock@ivanhoe.com
Related Articles in Latest Medical News:
|
|
[ Back to General Health Channel Home ]
|
Denotes Premium Content in Latest Medical News