Boasting one of the most developed biotech industries in the Third World, Cuba recently announced its researchers created a low-cost synthetic vaccine to combat respiratory infections in children -- specifically those caused by the bacteria haemophilus influenzae type B, Wired News reported1.

"This is the first vaccine for humans made with a chemically produced antigen, Cuban scientist said. The available, conventional vaccine is made using a difficult and more costly process of growing antigens in a bacterial culture," according to Wired News.

The discovery, scheduled to be introduced this week at a biotechnology conference in Havana, is a good example of how the island nation's biotech industry has garnered attention.

In the 1990s, following the Soviet Union's collapse, Cuba decided to diversify its economy with biotechnology investments. "It was Cuba's $1 billion gamble -- to train an army of scientists, develop a sprawling biotech industry and tackle every affliction from cancer to AIDS," according to a Miami Herald article2 last week.

Cuba has sought biotech alliances with other nations. In Malaysia, for example, Cuba has "active links with" several of that country's universities, and "discussions with institutes dedicated to biotechnology in Malacca were currently underway," a Cuban diplomatic official said3 in the Malaysian newspaper the Star.

"We are also dealing with some private companies that are working with us on the introduction of several biotech products in Malaysia, and to develop joint-ventures for sales here and in the regional market," the official said.

But some in the U.S. government "remain suspicious of Cuba's intentions and reiterate their assertion that the socialist nation is running a secret germ warfare program," the Miami Herald said.