vaccination, means of producing
immunity immunity, ability of an organism to resist disease by identifying and destroying foreign substances or organisms. Although all animals have some immune capabilities, little is known about nonmammalian immunity.
..... Click the link for more information. against pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria, by the introduction of live, killed, or altered antigens that stimulate the body to produce antibodies against more dangerous forms. Vaccination was used in ancient times in China, India, and Persia, and was introduced in the West in 1796 by Edward
Jenner Jenner, Edward, 1749–1823, English physician; pupil of John Hunter. His invaluable experiments beginning in 1796 with the vaccination of eight-year-old James Phipps proved that cowpox provided immunity against smallpox.
..... Click the link for more information. . Jenner demonstrated that rubbing or scraping the cowpox virus (the term vaccine comes from the Latin
vacca, cow) into the skin produced only a local lesion but was sufficient to stimulate the production of antibodies that would defend the body against the more virulent smallpox.
Vaccination has eradicated smallpox smallpox, acute, highly contagious disease causing a high fever and successive stages of severe skin eruptions. The disease dates from the time of ancient Egypt or before.
..... Click the link for more information. worldwide and prevents such diseases as cholera cholera (kŏl`ərə) or Asiatic cholera, acute infectious disease caused by strains of the bacterium
..... Click the link for more information. , rabies rabies (rā`bēz, ră`–) or hydrophobia
..... Click the link for more information. , and typhoid fever typhoid fever acute, generalized infection caused by Salmonella typhi. The main sources of infection are contaminated water or milk and, especially in urban communities, food handlers who are carriers.
..... Click the link for more information. . Vaccines work with the immune system's ability to recognize and destroy foreign proteins (antigens) that it determines are "nonself." Scientists are using this same principle to help the body recognize antigens peculiar to cancer cells. It is also applied in an experimental birth control birth control, practice of contraception for the purpose of limiting reproduction.
Methods of Birth Control
Male birth control methods include withdrawal of the male before ejaculation (the oldest contraceptive technique) and use of the condom, a
..... Click the link for more information. vaccine that tricks the immune system into believing that human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a hormone secreted by a developing fertilized egg, is foreign, thus inactivating it and inducing menstruation even if fertilization has occurred. Vaccines are also used to control animal pests by conferring temporary infertility.
Vaccination programs have been notably successful in the United States. For example, in 1998 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported only one case of poliomyelitis, one of diphtheria, 34 of tetanus, and 89 of measles. Despite the availability of vaccines, many thousands of people in the United States still die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases such as hepatitis Hepatitis A, also called infectious hepatitis, occurs sporadically or in epidemics, the virus being present in feces and transmittable via contaminated food (e.g., food prepared by an infected person with unwashed hands or fresh food washed or grown with contaminated water) or
..... Click the link for more information. and influenza influenza or flu, acute, highly contagious disease caused by a virus; formerly known as the grippe. There are three types of the virus, designated A, B, and C, but only types A and B cause more serious contagious infections.
..... Click the link for more information. .
Immunization against 17 diseases is recommended for young children and adolescents: hepatitis B (HepB); rotavirus; diphtheria diphtheria (dĭfthēr`ēə), acute contagious disease caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae
..... Click the link for more information. , tetanus tetanus (tĕt`nəs, –ənəs) or lockjaw,
..... Click the link for more information. (lockjaw), and pertussis (whooping cough whooping cough or pertussis, highly communicable infectious disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. The early or catarrhal stage of whooping cough is manifested by the usual symptoms of an upper respiratory infection with
..... Click the link for more information. ), given together as DTaP (formerly DTP) and, for older children, Tdap; Haemophilus influenzae b (Hib); poliomyelitis poliomyelitis (pō'lēōmī'əlī`tĭs), polio, or infantile paralysis,
..... Click the link for more information. (IPV); pneumococcal infections, including pneumonia pneumonia (n
..... Click the link for more information. , meningitis meningitis (mĕnĭnjī`tĭs) or cerebrospinal meningitis
..... Click the link for more information. , and bacteremia (PCV and PPV); measles measles or rubeola (r
..... Click the link for more information. , mumps mumps (epidemic parotitis), acute contagious viral disease, manifesting itself chiefly in pain and swelling of the salivary glands, especially those at the angle of the jaw. Other symptoms are fever, a general feeling of illness, and pain on chewing or swallowing.
..... Click the link for more information. , and rubella rubella or German measles, acute infectious disease of children and young adults. It is caused by a filterable virus that is spread by droplet spray from the respiratory tract of an infected individual.
..... Click the link for more information. , given together as MMR; chicken pox chicken pox or varicella (vâr'əsĕl`ə), infectious disease usually occurring in childhood.
..... Click the link for more information. (Var); hepatitis A (HepA); influenza; Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcal meningitis; MCV4, MPSV4); and, for girls only, human papillomavirus human papillomavirus (HPV), any of a family of more than 60 viruses that cause various growths, including plantar warts and genital warts, a sexually transmitted disease . Detectable warts can be or removed, usually by chemicals, freezing, or laser, but often recur.
..... Click the link for more information. (HPV). Researchers are working to develop combination vaccines that would simplify vaccine administration. Immunization against diseases such as yellow fever yellow fever, acute infectious disease endemic in tropical Africa and many areas of South America. Epidemics have extended into subtropical and temperate regions during warm seasons.
..... Click the link for more information. may be necessary before traveling to some countries. In 2002 the U.S. government decided to reinstitute smallpox vaccination for many military, health-care, and emergency personnel because of concern about a possible bioterror attack using smallpox.
See also inoculation inoculation, in medicine, introduction of a preparation into the tissues or fluids of the body for the purpose of preventing or curing certain diseases. The preparation is usually a weakened culture of the agent causing the disease, as in vaccination against
..... Click the link for more information. .
Bibliography
See study by A. Allen (2007).
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simultaneous serum-virus vaccination
