A new vaccine for asthma may help children and everyone who suffers from this serious respiratory illness. Asthma is a very common ailment among children and adults, and it can be life-threatening. Children, who enjoy running around and taking part in activities that can leave them out of breath and searching for an inhaler. Asthma attacks can be incredibly dangerous and can lead to hospital visits, and may even be fatal in some cases. Studies are being done on how to prevent and treat this ailment for the benefit of our children's health, but it looks like a vaccine may be a very real treatment in the near future.
According to Study Finds and Daily Advent, researchers in France believe that they have been able to develop a vaccine that could stop asthma. The vaccine has proven to be inexpensive and it can block immune system chemicals that trigger attacks.
The researchers used mice with a human form of asthma and the therapy last three months. While there is still a long way to go in their study and research, this has opened the door for a more concrete approach for treating those with asthma. The team is expected to start its clinical trials within the next two years.
Dr. Laurent Reber is one of the authors of the study and he is from France’s National Institute for Health and Medical Research. He stated that this vaccine is incredibly cost-efficient. He said that the vaccine will be injected into the muscle, much like most vaccines, and that their pre-clinical data is showing some very promising results. It is proving long-term protection against some of the most severe asthma symptoms.
With the current asthma treatments, patients who have asthma have to carry around an inhaler or pills to help open their airways, but a vaccine could eliminate this need.
The vaccine contains two compounds that block “inflammation-fueling proteins.” This treatment, when applied to the mice, lasted up to 15 weeks and there were no side effects noted. It appears that a vaccine would suppress the symptoms of asthma for a period of time.
This is very good news because asthma is the most common chronic lung condition in the world. This means that 7% of all children in the world have asthma, and while that may seem like a small number when you look at all the children in the world, it is a large number. A quarter of a million deaths every year are linked to asthma, so research like this is always needed and provides hope.
Sources: Study Finds, Daily Advent