Plague Vaccine

by: Gwyn Bevel

IT CAUSED ONE OF THE DEADLIEST PANDEMICS IN HUMAN HISTORY AND HAS KILLED MORE THAN 200-MILLION PEOPLE WORLDWIDE. GWYN JOINS US NOW WITH MORE. DOUG 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.

TONIGHT'S HEALTHCAST EXPLAINS. IN THE MID-FOURTEENTH CENTURY, THE BUBONIC PLAGUE TORE THROUGH ASIA, INDIA AND EUROPE, KILLING A QUARTER OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION. "I just kind of look back on history and things happen and you just kind of move on from it. I don't want to live my life worrying about it all the time." BUT THE PLAGUE MAY NOT BE HISTORY. THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL LISTS THE BUBONIC PLAGUE AS ONE OF THE TOP BIOTERRORISM THREATS. "We could take out all the bioterrorism weapons one by one by immunizing the population."

MOLECULAR BIOLOGIST HENRY 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 -- 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." THE VACCINE WAS TESTED IN RATS EXPOSED TO 50 BILLION SPORES OF THE PLAGUE -- AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT 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. ("These are the genetically modified plants.")

BECAUSE IT DOESN'T REQUIRE AN INJECTION, THE VACCINE COULD BE EASILY DISTRIBUTED TO THE PUBLIC. "Plague epidemics can happen anytime." BUT NOW, RESEARCHERS HOPE THEY CAN KEEP HISTORY FROM REPEATING. DOCTOR DANIELL SAYS 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.