Why Silk May Be Added To Vaccines Someday

[TheWraith]

Silk is in neckties, scarves and some fancy underwear and pajamas. Before too long, it might just help keep people from getting sick with measles or polio.

Vaccines play an important role in health, but can be tricky to transport to the far corners of the world. Many vaccines and some other drugs require constant refrigeration — from the factories where they're made to the places where they're ultimately injected into people.

That's where silk comes in.

Researchers from Tufts University recently discovered that proteins in silk could help protect some vaccines and drugs from heat damage, eliminating the need for this so-called cold chain, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/07/09/156503977/why-silk-may-someday-be-added-to-vaccines

Being able to deploy vaccines more widely to places without as much infrastructure could be a critical step in saving countless lives from communicable diseases in the third world.

[MattBaggins]

1. this sounds like Big Silk and Big Pharma

trying to cause more autism so they can sell even more drugs.

[Ian David]

2. It's a plot to turn is into moths!

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/1defabc363/the-moth-from-zjbelushi10

[Motown_Johnny]

3. The final paragraph is the most interesting to me

^snip^

Think of a Band-Aid with small little spikes. When you put it on the skin, it penetrates the skin just through the outside layer so it doesn't hurt," says Kaplan. "You can envision making these Band-Aids with vaccines and other drugs in there during the manufacturing, and distribute them without worrying about temperature exposure. And then when you're ready to use it, you just put it on your skin."





Vaccines administered as easily as putting on a band-aid, plus they don't need any special storage.


This seems truly revolutionary to me.

[AsahinaKimi]

4. omg! I can see where this will lead!!!

sorry, couldn't resist..

[4th law of robotics]

5. How long after they hit the market

before someone's gut tells them that all this silk in vaccines is behind some real or imagined problem?