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Vaccine Patch Removes Needle Pain
wog777 writes "Researchers led by Mark Prausnitz of Georgia Institute of Technology reported their research on microneedles in Sunday's edition of Nature Medicine. A microneedle contains needles so small you don't even feel them. Attached to a patch like a Band-Aid, the little needles barely penetrate the skin before they dissolve and release their vaccine."
It does open a few possibilities for practical jokes, though arguably not as many as the anything you can aerosolize and disperse already does...(for instance, has anybody else ever wondered what would happen if one were to crop-dust a heavily populated area with a suitably light-stabilized LSD solution? Or distributed a genetically engineered virus through the ventilation system of the DEA headquarters that spliced in the necessary DNA sequences to make those exposed capable of synthesizing endogenous THC?)
It's never nice to have someone not take your phobia seriously.
I have absolutely no problem with needles - in fact I have locally anesthetized myself and performed minor surgery on myself (yes I am a doctor) on more than one occasion. But then again I cannot bear the sight of spiders... To each their own!
The good side is that if you can deliver a virus (or virus fragments) this way, you can deliver pretty much anything else, too. The down side is how much will it cost versus current methods. Hypodermics are very cheap. And of course there will always be practical limits - nothing will ever replace two short large bore catheters, or a central line for that matter, in certain situations...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
As somebody else who has a phobia of needles, I'll chip in that I desperately wish this kind of thing could work in reverse. The number one reason why I avoid going to a doctor whenever possible is because I know they're going to want to use a needle to inject or draw something, and I'd rather just cut my hand open with a knife and let them scoop the blood up than have a needle draw blood. Seriously.
But it would be really cool if I could at least get vaccinations through just applying a patch.
(and I think some kinds of spiders are pretty cute)
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
Yeah... that and a 6'3 415lb body builder with wild eyes being held down by 6 people to have blood drawn with a needle. What I have to tell people is:
1) Don't let me see the needle. Otherwise it's over and you might have some structural problems with the building when I "leave".
2) Somebody needs to put their whole body weight down on my arm when you do it.
Even then it takes every single ounce of will I have to not lose it. It's a real problem. I have to have full anesthesia to get any kind of dental work done. One time a dentist thought I was kidding and surprised me with a needle in the face. My reaction was so severe I cracked his chair backwards trying to get away from it. Damn things are expensive.
I have a family history of diabetes on both sides. So far I have lucked out. I have a legitimate concern about the day I might be forced to use a needle. It would be hell on Earth.
This patch could be life changing, albeit for a very small part of the population, but still life changing.