Patients may soon no longer need to fear needles and injections as a study continues to explore the possibilities of edible vaccines.

The study, run by researchers from the University of Western Australia (UWA), Ondek and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, will look at how the bacteria responsible for stomach ulcers, Helicobacter pylori, can be used as a carrier for ingestible vaccines. Currently, the human body's protective mechanisms stop most vaccines being absorbed orally, but H. pylori naturally attaches itself to the stomach wall and causes irritation, which could provide an effective pathway into the bloodstream for an edible vaccine. Two scientists from UWA, Barry Marshall and Robin Warren, won a Nobel Prize in...