Vaccine patch may replace needles

A vaccine patch could cut out the need for painful needles and boost the effectiveness of immunisation against diseases like flu, say US researchers.

The patch has hundreds of microscopic needles which dissolve into the skin.Tests in mice show the technology may even produce a better immune response than a conventional jab.Writing in Nature Medicine, the team of researchers said the patch could one day enable people to vaccinate themselves.Each patch, developed by researchers at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology, contains 100 "microneedles" which are just 0.65mm in length.

One group of mice received the influenza vaccine using traditional hypodermic needles and another group were vaccinated with the patch.To test the technology, the researchers loaded the needles with an influenza vaccine.Patches that had no vaccine on them were applied to a third group of mice.

Three months down the line the team found the patch appeared to produce a more effective immune response in mice, then infected with the flu virus, than a standard vaccination.