That’s right. They’re finding the ultimate cure for zits,
the perpetual scourge of teenagers everywhere. Who are ‘they’? A rare
alliance between a university lab and a major player in big medicine.
These are international vaccine purveyors Senofi-Pasteur and the
University of California.
The picture above? Random stock photo of a vaccine. It’s either this or a pimply faced kid, which is awful.
The trick is to harness antibodies that literally kill the bacteria
responsible for acne, which is considered a full-fledged ailment that
affects millions of people.
There’s a rather puzzling part, however:
In 2008 they reported that mice given simple nasal-spray vaccines containing whole, dead P. acnes,
or a protein from its surface, showed reduced ear inflammation compared
to unvaccinated mice when they were then given a live bacterial
injection.
What does it mean? The scientists are using dead acne bacteria to
protect the afflicted skin. Well, not a person’s skin but their current
test subjects, mice.
Of course, at its present stage it’s unknown if this ‘vaccine’ is
ever going to be widely distributed. Let’s just hope a viable solution
is eventually found. Even just reducing the ravages of pimples is an achievement in itself.
Source New Scientist |