Researchers make progress in vaccine for botulinum toxin
Emergency Management Alert, March 19, 2003
Researchers recently made advances toward developing an inhaled vaccine against botulinum toxin, the cause of the occasionally fatal disease botulism and a potential bioterrorism weapon, Reuters reports.
Besides its potential use by bioterrorists, botulinum toxin is better known for the use of a purified form of the toxin called Botox, which the Food and Drug Administration approved last year for the treatment of facial wrinkles. Even though the purified toxin can be safely used as a wrinkle smoother, botulinum toxin remains a deadly poison that attacks the nervous system and paralyzes muscles, including those needed to breathe.
Most cases of botulism occur when a person swallows something that contains the toxin. But researchers at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia found that botulinum toxin could be absorbed through the lungs. This led the team to a possible new approach to develop oral and inhaled vaccines, with funding from the National Institutes of Health and biotechnology firms. Such vaccines would make vaccination of large numbers of people much easier.
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