Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder said they believe their new, dry powder measles vaccine -- scheduled for human clinical trials in India -- is the beginning of a new era of inexpensive vaccines for a number of illnesses such as tuberculosis and cervical cancer.

The inhalable measles vaccine, developed by a team led by Robert Sievers, involves mixing "supercritical" carbon dioxide with a weakened form of the measles virus to forms microscopic bubbles dried to make a powder that can be dispensed into the mouths using a small, cylindrical plastic sack.

"A person taking a deep breath from the sack is effectively vaccinated," Sievers said in a statement.

Sievers said the vaccine developed out of atmospheric research on how people inhale tiny airborne droplets of pollutants.

The findings are to be presented at the Eighth European Conference on Supercritical Fluid Applications in Graz, Austria.