Vaccine offers hope for preventing children's allegeries
FIRST ON 7: Melbourne researchers are hoping a 100 year old vaccine could hold the key to preventing food allergies in children.
They are about to embark on a world first trial using a common vaccine successfully used to wipe out tuberculosis.
One in ten Australian children has a food allergy adding a $3 billion burden to the health budget.
"In Australia unfortunately we seem to be the capital of food allergy in the world," Professor Katie Allen.
In a world first trial to prevent child food allergies, scientists at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute at the University Of Melbourne and the Mercy Hospital will use the common tuberculosis vaccine, BCG.
It is still administered to 130 million babies worldwide every year, but was phased out of Australia three decades ago.
"Certainly allergy has increased dramatically since the 1980's so there may be some association with that," Katie Allen said.
Early data suggests BCG, a simple, safe and cheap drug fights infection and could potentially prevent food allergies.
"I think that we thought we had been using the BCG vaccine to prevent tuberculosis, but it may turn out that its greater effect is on kick starting the immune system in a much more beneficial way," Professor Nigel Curtis said.
Researchers are hopeful positive trial results will lead to the reintroduction of the tuberculosis vaccine back into Australia’s immunisation program.
Fourteen hundred babies will be recruited onto the trial, with half given BCG, and after 12 months researchers will have their answers.
Pregnant mum Hannah Elborough had the tuberculosis vaccine as a child and is allergy free.
"Maybe there is a link there and maybe the BCG vaccine helped me, so if I can pass that on and help my baby then gosh I’ll do anything really," trial participant Hannah Elborough said.
For more information visit the Melbourne Infant Study website. Or email misbair@mcri.edu.au.
