Scientists in Taiwan have succeeded in making chickens lay eggs that contain antigens in their yolks for consumption by humans and domesticated animals to fight various diseases, according to a report from Taipei on Wednesday.

Researchers at an animal product laboratory in Hsinhua, Tainan County, have spent two years in developing the "medical eggs." The achievement will be put on display at Bio Taiwan 2005, an annual international biotech event, to be held July 22-25 at the Taipei World Trade Center.

Liu Jui-cheng, a researcher at the laboratory, told media Wednesday that the research process involved injecting pathogens into the bodies of Leghorn chickens to make them produce antigens, known as "yolk IgG, " or "IgY" for short. The antibodies would find their way into egg yolks, in amounts varying between two percent and 10 percent of a yolk.

She said researchers have so far only injected one pathogen at a time into the chickens. The bacteria and viruses that have been used include streptococcus bacteria, echerichia coli, klebsiellapneumoniae, and H. pylori bacteria.

When the medical eggs so produced are consumed by humans or domesticated animals, the antigens in the egg yolks will help the immune system neutralize related bacteria and viruses that have invaded the body.

These medical eggs eventually will be available on the market and will have to be consumed raw because cooking the eggs will destroy the antigens, Liu said.

She added that more research is needed to test whether a "cocktail" of pathogens can be injected into the chickens at the same time to develop a form of antigens that can fight various diseases.

(Xinhua News Agency July 21, 2005)