Oral rotavirus vaccine strips created

BALTIMORE, May 15 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have created a simple drug delivery system using oral quick-dissolve strips for rotavirus vaccine.

Rotavirus is a common cause of severe diarrhea and vomiting in children, causing about 600,000 deaths annually.

The Johns Hopkins biomedical engineering undergraduate students say their quick-dissolving film might be used to deliver rotavirus vaccine to infants living in impoverished areas.

During a two-semester course, the seven-student team fabricated a thin film that should melt quickly in a baby's mouth, prompting the child to swallow the vaccine. The medication is coated with a material that releases it in the baby's small intestine, where it should trigger an immune response to prevent rotavirus infection.

Rotavirus vaccines are produced in liquid or freeze-dried form that must be chilled for transport and storage, making it very expensive for use in impoverished areas. In addition, newborns sometimes spit out the liquid, a problem that is less likely to occur with a strip that sticks to and dissolves on the tongue in less than 1 minute.

The thin film vaccine system was among the undergraduate projects introduced this month during the university's annual Biomedical Engineering Design Day.