Vaccine needle now and then?

Question

ok, i need to know who invented the world's first vaccine needle, how was it made, what was it made of and a how does it look. I also need to now how that needle evolved over time, what does it look like now, what is it made of and how is it made. So basically i need a comparison of the first vaccine needle and the vaccine needle produced now. thanks

Answer 1

Forms of intravenous injection and infusion began as early as 1670. However, Charles Gabriel Pravaz (1791-1853), French surgeon, and Alexander Wood (1817-1884), Scottish physician, independently invented the hypodermic syringe. It is first use was to inject morphine as a painkiller.

Many of the technical difficulties which had faced those experimenting with blood transfusion were removed after 1853 by the invention of the hypodermic syringe, with its hollow pointed needle. Credit for the evolution of this universally useful appliance is usually given to Doctor Alexander Wood (born 1817), who was appointed Secretary of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1850. For some time, Doctor Wood had been experimenting with a hollow needle for the administration of drugs. Eventually, he felt confident enough to publish in "The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Review" a short paper - 'A New Method of treating Neuralgia by the direct application of Opiates to the Painful Points' - in which he showed that the method was not necessarily limited to the administration of opiates. At about the same time, Charles Gabriel Pravaz of Lyon was making a similar syringe which quickly came into use in many surgeries under the name of 'The Pravaz Syringe'.

Vaccination Syringes

Benjamin A. Rubin invented the "Pronged Vaccinating and Testing Needle" or vaccination needle. This was a refinement to the conventional syringe needle.

Disposable Syringes

Arthur E. Smith received 8 U.S. patents for a disposable syringe from  1949-50. (U.S. Patent nos. 2524363, 2524362, 2497562, 2490553, 2490552, 2490551, 2478845, 2478844)

In 1954,  Becton, Dickinson and Company created the first mass-produced disposable syringe and needle, produced in glass. It was developed for Dr. Jonas Salk's mass administration of one million American children with the new Salk polio vaccine.

In 1955, Roehr Products introduced a plastic disposable hypodermic syringe called the Monoject.

In 1956, Colin Murdoch, a pharmacist from Timaru, New Zealand patented a plastic, disposable syringe to replace the glass syringe. Colin Murdoch has patented forty-six inventions including: a silent burglar alarm, automatic syringes for vaccinating animals, the childproof bottle top, and the tranquilizer gun which he invented in 1959. Colin Murdoch - Biography

In 1961, Becton Dickinson introduced its first plastic disposable syringe called the Plastipak.

African American inventor Phil Brooks received a US patent for a "Disposable Syringe" on April 9, 1974.

- Microneedle

The microneedle device is a painless alternative to the needle and syringe. Mark Prausnitz, a chemical engineering professor from the Georgia Institute of Technology  teamed together with electrical engineer Mark Allen to develop the prototype microneedle device, which looks like the nicotine quit smoking patch. The microneedle is made up of 400 silicon-based microscopic needles, each the width of a human hair. The tiny, hollow needles are so small, that any medication can be delivered through the skin without reaching the nerve cells that create pain. Microelectronics within the device would control the time and dosage of the medicine delivered.

- Hypospray

PowderJect Pharmaceuticals of Fremont, Calif., created the hypospray a device that uses pressurized helium to spray dry powdered medicines on the skin for absorption.

In the present day, there are have been many different innovations of the syringe needle. Above all, The diameter of the needle is indicated by the needle gauge. Various needle lengths are available for any given gauge. There are a number of systems for gauging needles, including the Stubs Needle Gauge, and the French Catheter Scale. Needles in common medical use range from 7 gauge (the largest) to 33 (the smallest) on the Stubs scale. Twenty-one-gauge needles are most commonly used for drawing blood for testing purposes, and sixteen- or seventeen-gauge needles are most commonly used for blood donation, as they are large enough to allow red blood cells to pass through the needle without rupturing (this also allows more blood to be collected in a shorter amount of time). Smaller-gauge needles will rupture the red blood cells, and if this occurs, the blood is useless for the patient that is receiving it. Although reusable needles remain useful for some scientific applications, disposable needles are far more common in medicine. Disposable needles are embedded in a plastic or aluminium hub that attaches to the syringe barrel by means of a press-fit (Luer-Slip™) or twist-on (Luer-Lok™) fitting. There are also different needles of different bevel types: Standard Bevel, Short Bevel and True Short Bevel.

Good Luck !

Answer 2

Here's one source to consult:

Davenport, D.M. (2004). A systematic review to ascertain whether the standard needle is more effective than a longer or wider needle in reducing the incidence of local reaction in children receiving primary immunization. J. Adv. Nurs. 46(1):66-77.

    Millions of doses of vaccines are given to children within the United Kingdom (UK) each year, yet there is conflicting national guidance on the length of needle to use. Prefilled syringes come supplied with 25 Gauge 16 millimetres long needles. OBJECTIVES: A systematic review was completed to answer the clinical question of whether the standard needle is more effective than a longer and/or wider needle in reducing local reactions in children receiving primary immunizations. METHODS: Data sources: A comprehensive search strategy, including searching of electronic databases, hand searching, reference/citation searching, contacting researchers in the field and searching for unpublished literature. STUDY SELECTION: Selection of studies was guided by the clinical question, the inclusion and exclusion criteria being applied by two people independently. Study quality assessment: An established quality checklist was used. Critical analysis of the quality of the components of the studies is included in the discussion. DATA EXTRACTION: Two people independently applied a data extraction form, designed for the study. RESULTS: (1). Rev Man (a Windows-based software package used by the Cochrane Collaboration) was used to perform a meta-analysis on the binary results of two small studies using Relative Risk as the summary statistic 16 mm vs. 25 mm needle. (2). The pooled Relative Risk for redness was 2.52 [95% confidence interval (CI) fixed 1.70-3.72] P < 0.00001. (3). The pooled Relative Risk for swelling was 2.31 (95% CI fixed 1.55-3.43) P < 0.00003. CONCLUSION: (1). The results are statistically very highly significant and favour the use of the 25 millimetre long needle. (2). No studies were identified to separate the effect of the gauge of the needle used, but the discussion shows that needle length is the most important variable. (3). The results should be incorporated into any future guidelines on vaccine administration in the UK.

Answer 3

The inventor of the first needle is really unknown but Jenner used a sharp thin wooden stick to jab cowpox scabs  into the bloodstream and tissue of his patients to vaccinate against smallpox. I guess this would be considered the first needle syringe combination.