Infectious diseases eradication

The result of vaccination programmes have been very impressive. The treatment of certain infectious diseases have been drastically reduced, with their virtual elimination from some countries where they formerly caused considerable disability and many deaths. Vaccination has also opened up the possibility of completely eradicating some diseases from the face of the earth e.g. small pox and polio. 

For many years the preferred approach to immunity to infectious disease lias been by development of active immunity through the injection of a vaccine. The vaccine may be either an attenuated live infections agent, or an inactivated or killed product. In either case, protective substances called antibodies are generated in the bloodstream these, are described in the next section. Vaccines for a number of diseases have been available for many years and have assisted in the eradication of some diseases, such as smallpox. As new strains of bacteria and viruses are discovered, additional vaccines becomes available from time to time. See also Vaccine Technology,... 

This approach has led to prevention, eradication, or at least amelioration of a number of bacterial and viral infectious diseases (9, 10). 

The discovery of vaccines for smallpox, cholera, and typhoid and the variety of vaccines now available have led to a significant reduction in the mortality and morbidity due to many diseases, with smallpox being the first to have been completely eradicated and poliomyelitis targeted to be the next. At present, the World Health Organization is working toward the complete elimination of poliomyelitis throughout the world [188,189], However, since Jenner discovered the vaccine for smallpox more than two centuries ago [190], only some 50 vaccines have been approved for use, and few additional vaccines have been discovered. Most of those in current use are administered parenterally they can induce only a systemic immune response, not mucosal immunity. Obviously the latter is very important in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, be they due to viral, bacterial, or parasitic pathogens that attack via the mucosal surfaces [190],... 

T. Aidan Cockbum, The Evolution and Eradication of Infectious Diseases (1963). 

Vaccines are by far the most important immunological products. They have enabled the control or eradication of numerous infectious diseases affecting humans and their domesticated animals. For example, the systematic application of smallpox vaccine, deployed under the aegis of the World Health Organization, achieved the eradication of... 

Biological products have a longer history than is generally assumed. At one time small pox accounted for 10% of deaths in some countries. The development of cow pox vaccination in 1796, and later the Variocella vaccine, has led to small pox being the only infectious disease ever to have been eradicated from the planet the final outbreak was after a laboratory accident in 1979, leading to a small number of cases. 

Vaccination against infectious illnesses provides unseen protection against contagious diseases—afflictions causing permanent disability or even death. Vaccines have been responsible for dramatic decreases in morbidity and mortality secondary to infectious disease, and in the case of smallpox, has globally eradicated a once life-threatening illness.However, while true adverse consequences of vaccination have never exceeded the level of adverse consequences of infection in the absence of vaccination, the public perception of harm secondary to vaccine administration has threatened to overshadow the victory of disease prevention.With the inception and continued evolution of immunization, the number of individuals protected against diseases has steadily increased. Unfortunately, the number of vaccine-related adverse events has also increased proportionally to vac-... 

The virus that causes smallpox. Variola major, is a Category A biological threat agent (CDC 2007). It is a double-stranded DNA orthopoxvirus. It is a widely held opinion among infectious disease professionals that, historically, smallpox has been responsible for more deaths than all other infectious diseases combined. After aggressive efforts by the World Health Organization to immunize the world s population, and because the virus is unable to survive for more than a week outside of its only host, humans. Variola was declared eradicated in 1980 (Murray et al. 2005). The smallpox vaccine can prevent or lessen the severity of the disease if administered within 96 h of exposure. The duration of effectiveness of the vaccine used to eradicate smallpox is not known, and there are reported mild to life-threatening risks are associated with the vaccine. Once a victim is symptomatic, medications and intravenous fluid can be administered to make the patient more comfortable, but there are no antivirals available for unvaccinated infected individuals (Henderson et al. 1999). 

Eisinger D, Thulke H-H. 2008. Spatial pattern formation facilitates eradication of infectious diseases. J Appl Ecol 45 415 -23. 

More on anthrax, the Ebola virus, and especially the smallpox virus, are presented in firsthand accounts in Richard Preston s The Demon in the Freezer A True Story, published in 2002. Following the format of his previous book The Hot Zone A Terrifying True Story, Preston interviewed many of the principals involved in the CDC and, in particular, in the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Dedrick, Maryland. He gives particulars about the highly successful program to eradicate smallpox, and about still-remaining sources of the stored virus. Included is the fact that genetic modification has produced a new strain that is not affected by conventional vaccinations. 

Malaria illustrates both the possibilities and the drawbacks of infectious disease as a solution to the problems of old age. To our shame, given the lack of real political will to eradicate it, malaria still affects half a billion people every year. The most feared complication, cerebral malaria, is caused by inflammation of the tiny blood vessels in the brain, which leads to fever, convulsions, coma and death in more than a million people each year. As we have seen, inflammation and fever are part of the reaction of the host to infection. If someone dies of cerebral malaria, they die more through the violence of their own immune system s counter-attack than through the virulence of the parasite. 

HDAC inhibitors are potentially useful for the treatment of infectious diseases. This is most well documented with the malaria parasite. Merck and GlaxoSmithKline have reported [17] a series of inhibitors based on the apicidin cyclic tetrapeptide natural product scaffold with some selectivity for Plasmodium over human HDACs. In the antiviral field, HDAC inhibitors were recently shown [18] to drive the expression of latent reservoirs of HIV, thus facilitating their eradication. Outside the human therapeutic areas, there is an interesting recent patent [19] by Dow who has independently isolated FK228, a HDAC inhibitor, from a Madagascar plant and shown that it is an antiinsecticidal agent. 

With the advent of the antibiotic era, the possibility was raised that infectious diseases would be eradicated altogether. However, infections still remain the leading cause of death worldwide [1]. New infectious diseases are continually being identified and, in addition, many known pathogens which were under control are again becoming health problems [11-... 

The introduction of the drug penicillin in 1941 was hailed as the dawn of a new era in medicine - an era in which infectious disease could be eradicated for all time. This early optimism proved ingenuous. Sixty years later, infectious diseases are on the rise, particularly in immunocompromised individuals [56]. The Centers for Disease Control has reported that as many as 58% of reported AIDS patients have contracted potentially fatal mycoses [56]. The CDC also reported that the U.S. death rate from infectious diseases increased 60% from 1980 to 1992 [57]. Heart disease and cancer are still the leading causes of death in the Western world. While the primary tissue damage associated with these diseases may be the... 

Smallpox is caused by the virus variola. It is a highly infectious disease. The most severe form of the virus, variola major can cause death if the victim is not treated and has not been vaccinated before exposure. The other type of the virus, variola minor, however, produces a molder form of smallpox. Outbreak of this disease in the past has caused many deaths worldwide. Today, this disease is almost eradicated from most parts of the world. 

Vaccines are the most effective means of prevention of diseases. Eradication of small pox worldwide attests to the power of this preventive strategy. The rarity of infectious diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, mtunps, and measles in the Western world is largely due to success-fill immunizations. Development of effective vaccines is seen as the hope for prevention of other infectious diseases such as malaria, AIDS, and hepatitis B and C infections. 

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