The tobacco plant is yet again at work in the production of vaccines, this time to meet the problem of amoebiasis, an infection of the intestines which causes stomach problems and 100,000 deaths a year, primarily in Central and South America, Africa and Asia, according to a report in the Plant Biotechnology Journal.

Researchers at the University of Central Florida were able to create a vaccine for the disease by adding a molecule to the choloroplasts of the tobacco plant (a part of a cell which contains pigments that make plants green in color) that will prompt an immune response in human beings to the parasite which causes amoebiasis.

Results in animal research showed that the tobacco-assisted vaccine was four to 20 times more effective in fighting the disease. The next step will be human clinical trials. It’s the latest in a long string of medical uses for tobacco as a host plant for the creation of new drugs.
The advantage of using tobacco, of course, is its ability to be grown quickly and in great volume. The researchers estimated that a single acre of tobacco engineered to produce the vaccine could yield 29 million doses!

Another example of tobacco at work to end suffering and save lives!