Lectures 1 & 2: Introduction to Vaccines Flashcards
Simply put, what do vaccines do?
Vaccine induce immune responses (antibodies and/or cells) that protect against subsequent exposure to a pathogen.
How can a vaccine be delivered?
Typically by injection, ingestion, or inhalation
What are the types of vaccines that are currently in use?
- Live attenuated,
- killed, toxoids, subunits, conjugate
What organism causes smallpox?
The variola virus
What was the typical fatality rate of smallpox?
30% fatalty rate
What were some of the side effects of smallpox?
Scarring, blindness, and sterility
What is variolation?
A process by which smallpox was artificially induced by administering material from another person’s healing pustules either by inhalation or via small cuts in the skin.
What are the risks associated with variolation?
- The variolated person could develop full-blown smallpox
- The variolates person could also spread smallpox to others, starting an epidemic
Why did Jenner’s hypothesis concerning smallpox and cowpox work?
The Variola virus (smallpox) and Cowpox virus (cowpox) are closely related, allowing cross-protective immune responses.
What is an advantage of inoculation with cowpox over variolation with smallpox?
Main advantage, no chance of accidentally causing smallpox
What are the two infectious diseases to be eradicated to date?
Smallpox and Rinderpest
What is Rinderpest?
A highly contagious virus of hoofed mammals, closely related to human measels
How did the attenuated vaccine come along?
Louis Pasteur inoculated chickens with an old culture of cholera, they became sick but survived and were immune to a second infection
Understand the theoretical life cycle of an immunization program.
There are 3 lines to the graph, # of vaccinated, # of disease, # of adverse affect cases
Understand the theory of herd immunity
Enough people should be vaccinated to protect those who cannot and those who will not, will break down if vaccinated numbers fall below threshold
