A new mucosal vaccine against anthrax with a new formulation and mode of delivery (via a nose spray) has been developed.

"Our study found that a mucosal delivery system promises to add a second layer of immune protection against anthrax by priming the disease-fighting cells in mucous membranes lining the nose along with those in the blood, and with just three doses," said Mingtao Zeng, Ph.D., assistant professor within Department of microbiology and Immunology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and a study author along with Qingfu Xu, also at the medical center. "That, along with the addition of newly precision-designed vaccine components, should represent important steps in the race to provide troops with stronger protection in a vaccine that is easier to use."

The study, testing its efficacy in mice, has been published in the Clinical and Vaccine Immunology journal. More details about the vaccine here.

Photo: Color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph shows splenic tissue from a monkey with inhalational anthrax; featured are rod-shaped bacilli (yellow) and an erythrocyte (red). Source: Wikipedia, Credit: Arthur Friedlander