Vaccine development, history

Link, Kurt The Vacdne Controversy The History, Use, and Safdy ofVacdnations. Westport, Conn. Praeger, 2005. Short synopses of the history behind most major vaccines, from smallpox to acellular vaccines. Plotkin, Stanley A., Walter A. Orenstein, and Paul A. Offit, eds. Vacdnes. 5th ed. Philadelphia Saun-ders/Elsevier, 2008. An excellent source for understanding the history of vaccine development s ainst most nwjor scents. 

Allen, Arthur. Vacdne. New York W. W. Norton, 2007. Discusses the history of vaccine development, from... 

Vaccines are used in either the general population of children or adults or for special groups. Recommendations for vaccine usage are made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control. The Committee on Infectious Diseases of the American Academy of Pediatrics (Redbook Committee) also makes recommendations for infants through adolescents, and the American Academy of Family Physicians makes recommendations for adults. An excellent review of vaccine history, development, usage, and related regulatory issues is available (2). 

Sabin, A.B., Oral poliovirus vaccine. History of its development and prospects for eradication of poliomyelitis. Jama, 1965. 194(8) 872-6. 

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). 

Recombinant DNA techniques have opened up almost unlimited possibilities to generate biological molecules for vaccines and therapeutics for the prevention, diagnosis and therapy of diseases in man and animals. Twice in history similar breakthroughs were achieved The introduction of pure bacterial cultures and of cell culture techniques to produce viruses were technical innovations, which each resulted in a series of new and extremely beneficial vaccines. Compared to recombinant DNA techniques, those historical achievements may only be minor steps forward in a limited area. We now hold a universal key to all proteins and antigens in our hands and with it the possibilities to develop not only new vaccines but also a variety of new therapeutics. 

A retrospective study in 19 children with renal transplants identified three who developed disseminated varicella, despite a prior history of chickenpox in two and pretransplant varicella vaccination in one (33). The clinical disease was mild and responded promptly to oral aciclovir. Although this was based on very few patients, the incidence of 16% was thought to be unexpectedly higher than that reported in historic controls (0.7-1.9%), and might have resulted from the higher degree of immunosuppression achieved with mycophenolate mofetil. 

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. 

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