Immunization against anthrax

Anthrax vaccines Bacillus anthracis-duenwedu antigens found in a sterile filtrate of cultures of this microorganism Active immunization against anthrax... 

Turnbull PCB. Current status of immunization against anthrax old vaccines may be here to stay for a while. Curr Opin Infect Dis 2000 13 113-120. 

Rapid and intense teaching programs helped prepare our medical healthcare providers, so that by the onset of Operation Desert Storm, they were as ready as any military medical personnel might be to go to war. Hundreds of thousands of troops were supplied with chemical pretreatment and therapeutic agents and thousands were immunized against anthrax and the botulinum toxins, the two most likely biological... 

Ivins, B. E., Welkos, S. L., Knudson, G. B. and Little, S. F., Immunization against anthrax with aromatic compound-dependent (aro-) mutants of antracis subtilis that produce anthrax protective antigen. Infect. Immunol., 58(2), 303,1990. 

Tan, Y., Hackett, N.R., Boyer, J.L., Crystal, D.G. (2003). Protective immunity evoked against anthrax lethal toxin after a single intramuscular administration of an adenovirus-based vaccine encoding humanized protective antigen. Hum. Gene Ther. 14 1673-82. 

Wild M A, Xin H, Maruyama T, et al. (2003). Human antibodies from immunized donors are protective against anthrax toxin in vivo. Nature Biotechnol. 21 1305-1306. 

Cohen S, Mendelson I, Altboum Z, Kobiler D, Elhanany E, Bino T, Leitner M, Inbar I, Rosenberg H, Gozes Y, Barak R, Fisher M, Kronman C, Velan B, Shafferman A. Attenuated nontoxinogenic and nonencapsulated recombinant Bacillus anthracis spore vaccines protect against anthrax. Infect Immun 2000 68 4549-4558. 

Little SF, Knudson GB. Comparative efficacy of Bacillus anthracis live spore vaccine and protective antigen vaccine against anthrax in the guinea pig. Infect Immun. 1986 52 509-512. 

This is not the first time in history that military personnel have been ordered to be immunized against a possible BW agent, nor is the current policy debate over anthrax vaccinations for the US military unprecedented. Immunization programs to protect soldiers from infectious diseases— whether they be naturally present or in the form of a BW threat—go back at least four centuries, and some of these have also been quite controversial. For example, whether or not to continue vaccination of US troops against smallpox had been hotly debated, especially throughout the 1980s. 

Whilst not recommended for routine administration, vaeoines additional to those represented in the juvenile programme are available for individuals in special risk categories. These categories relate to oeeupational risks or risks associated with travel abroad. Such immunization protocols include those directed against cholera, typhoid, meningitis (types A, C), anthrax, hepatitis A and B, influenza, Japanese encephahtis, rabies, tick-borne encephalitis, and yellow fever. 

The threat of a bioterrorist attack with smallpox is especially disturbing since the eradication of smallpox remains one of the great achievements in human history. Unfortunately, since routine vaccination against smallpox was discontinued in 1978, few people retain immunity today. Although there are only two official repositories of the smallpox virus today, it is still possible that terrorists will be able to obtain the virus. Thus, the government has had to stockpile supplies of the vaccine, and there is some debate about whether to resume routine smallpox vaccinations. Although the smallpox vaccine was discovered by accident, the story of how Louis Pasteur developed the first anthrax vaccine and his use of unvaccinated animals as controls remain as excellent lessons about the process of science (Trachtman 2002). 

The vaccine should be given to industrial workers exposed to potentially contaminated animal products imported from countries in which animal anthrax remains uncontrolled. These products include wool, goat hair, hides, and bones. People in direct contact with potentially infected animals as well as laboratory workers should also be immunized. Vaccination is also indicated for protection against the use of anthrax in biological warfare. Approximately 150,000 service members received this licensed MDPH vaccine between 11 January and 28 February 1991 (25%-30% of the total U.S. forces deployed during the Persian Gulf War). 

Following a lead given a century earlier by the physician Edward Jenner who observed that people who milked cows diseased with cow-pox seldom acquired smallpox and used this information to devise a smallpox vaccine, Pasteur looked for sources of dead bacteria that could be used to trigger immunity and protect against live bacteria. He used such methods successfully to protect sheep from anthrax, then he deliberately injected the 9-year-old Joseph Meister, who had been bitten by a mad dog, with attenuated fluid from rabid dogs and saved his life. 

Although not all of the first developments in immunization were successful (some in fact did more harm than good), by 1914 effective and safe vaccines were available for smallpox (vaccinia), rabies, anthrax, and whooping cough (pertussis toxoid), as well as passive protection against tetanus and diphtheria. The latter two developments, particularly the use of tetanus antitoxin, no doubt saved countless hves during World War I. 

---