It caused one of the deadliest pandemics in human history and has killed more than 200 million people worldwide. The bubonic plague may be something you've read about in history books, but today, the threat of another outbreak is as real as ever. Soon, researchers say a pill could be your best protection.
In the mid-fourteenth century, the bubonic plague tore through Asia, India and Europe, killing a quarter of the world's population. Entire cities were burned in an attempt to kill the disease. Today, remnants still exist.
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"I just kind of look back on history and things happen and you just kind of move on from it," said Andrea Reyes. "I don't want to live my life worrying about it all the time."
But the plague may not be history. Experts say with no vaccine and antibiotics as the only treatment, an outbreak is very real. The Centers for Disease Control lists the bubonic plague as one of the top bioterrorism threats, but a pill may be your best protection.
"We could take out all the bioterrorism weapons one by one by immunizing the population," explained Henry Daniell, Ph.D., a molecular biologist at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
Dr. Daniell created a vaccine by injecting genes from yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes the bubonic plague, into plant cells, which are then put into capsules. The hope is that the body will develop immunity to the plague.
"So this is a very sophisticated way of delivering a vaccine, where you could never get the disease," Dr. Daniell said.
The vaccine was tested in rats exposed to 50 billion spores of the plague -- an enormous amount Dr. Daniell says humans would never face. Within three days, all of the unvaccinated rats and three-quarters of those given the injectable vaccine died; but every rat given the oral vaccine survived -- with no traces of the plague left in their bodies. Because it doesn't require an injection, the vaccine could be easily distributed to the public.
"Plague epidemics can happen anytime," Dr. Daniell said; but now, researchers hope they can keep history from repeating.
According to Dr. Daniell, the new oral way of delivering vaccines may be the wave of the future, meaning no more painful needles. He expects the capsules for the plague to be available to the public in is as little as two years.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
University of Central Florida, College of Medicine
daniell@mail.ucf.edu
http://daniell.ucf.edu