One day, the answer to illnesses such as influenza and traveler’s diarrhea may be summed up in a single word: Band-Aid.

The National Institutes of Health is helping fund research, being done by the Iomai Corporation, in vaccinations for the flu and traveler’s diarrhea that could be administered by a patch, similar to the way a nicotine patch works for smokers, or the birth control patch works for women.

Although there are already some medications currently available in this form of dosage, research for the flu vaccine and traveler’s diarrhea are a relatively new area, and wouldn’t be available for some time.

“It takes any new drug in the neighborhood of about nine years [to be approved], and that depends a little bit on what it is,” said Greg Yeakel, pharmacy chief of staff at the Thielen Student Health Center.

The patch for the traveler’s diarrhea vaccine is in phase two clinical trials, with approval anticipated in a “few years,” and the patch for the flu vaccine is in phase one clinical trials; they anticipate “several years” before approval, said Lori Frederick, a fourth-year pharmacy student at the University of Iowa.

The biggest issue holding back approval for these kinds of vaccines is how well the drug can be absorbed through the skin, Frederick said.

Another concern for doctors is that the patch was hoped to be available for in-home use, and there would potentially be a significantly lower success rate if the patch was not properly applied.

“Potentially, if the patient did not pre-treat the skin, the antigen would be unable to penetrate the skin and there would be no response to the vaccine,” Frederick said.

However, there would be a few important benefits for administering medicine in this way. Patches do not require refrigeration or freezing like the standard injectable or intranasal vaccines, and this would be good for patients with a phobia of needles, Frederick said. There would also be a smaller risk of blood-borne pathogen spread from contaminated needles, which would be especially important for the traveler’s diarrhea vaccine in third-world countries.

Another advantage of the patch is that its sustained absorption can lower the amount of medicine required to be effective, Yeakel said. Although these are important factors to consider, all forms of dosage have pros and cons, and the downside to the patch is that if you want it to work quickly, it might not, Yeakel said.

“Although sometimes quick isn’t always good, like with allergic reactions,” he said.

Because of the ease of use, it is likely that the patch method of delivering medication will continue.

“I think they’re probably going to continue this sort of thing,” Yeakel said. “People like patches; it’s easy to remember.”