vaccination

Examples of vaccination in the following topics:

• Mumps

  • Mumps was a common childhood viral disease, but widespread vaccination has now made it rare in developed countries.
  • Before the development of vaccination and the introduction of a vaccine in 1949, it was common worldwide, but now, outbreaks are largely confined to developed countries.
  • The most common preventative measure against mumps is a vaccination with a mumps vaccine.
  • The vaccine may be given separately or as part of the routine MMR immunization vaccine which also protects against measles and rubella.
  • The MMR vaccine is given at ages 12–15 months and then again at four to six years.

• Intramuscular Injections

  • In addition, some vaccines are administered intramuscularly: Gardasil, Hepatitis A vaccine, Rabies vaccine, and Influenza vaccines based on inactivated viruses are commonly administered intramuscularly (although there is active research being conducted as to the best route of administration).

• Immunological Memory

  • Vaccinations take advantage of memory lymphocyte development by artificially-generating active immunity, a process called immunization.
  • During a vaccination, the antigen of a pathogen is introduced into the body and stimulates the immune system to develop a specific immunity against that pathogen.
  • Vaccination is an extremely effective manipulation of the immune system that helps fight diseases.
  • Despite the effectiveness of vaccines, methods do not yet exist to develop vaccines for every pathogen.
  • Many parasitic pathogens, such as the plasmodium protist that causes malaria, haven't successfully been vaccinated against because it is challenging to develop a vaccine that is strong enough to stimulate an immune response (sufficient immunogenicity) without causing a live infection.

• Shingles

  • It has become common practice to vaccinate children against the virus that causes both chickenpox and shingles.
  • Once vaccinated, most children will not become infected with the varicella zoster virus if exposed, and subsequently will not develop shingles later in life.
  • Vaccination after an individual has had chickenpox still reduces the risk of later developing shingles.

• Papanicolaou Test

  • Pap smear screening is still recommended for those who have been vaccinated against HPV, since the vaccines do not cover all of the HPV types that can cause cervical cancer.
  • Also, the vaccine does not protect against HPV exposure before vaccination.

• Active and Passive Humoral Immunity

  • Artificial active immunity is the result of vaccination.
  • During vaccination, the body is exposed to a weakened form of a pathogen that contains the same antigens as the live pathogen, but cannot mount an infection against the body in its weakened state.
  • Vaccinations have become an effective form of disease prevention that is especially useful in preventing diseases that would normally have a high risk of mortality during an infection, where relying on natural active immunity would prove dangerous.
  • Because passive immunity is short-lived, vaccination is often required shortly following birth to prevent diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis B, polio, and pertussis; however, maternal antibodies can inhibit the induction of protective vaccine responses throughout the first year of life.
  • Passive transfer is used to help treat those with immunodeficiency and for several types of severe acute infections that have no vaccine, such as the Ebola virus.

• Coryza and Influenza

  • Vaccinations against influenza are usually made available to people in developed countries.
  • The most common human vaccine is the trivalent influenza vaccine (TIV) that contains purified and inactivated antigens against three viral strains.
  • Typically, this vaccine includes material from two influenza A virus subtypes and one influenza B virus strain.
  • A vaccine formulated for one year may be ineffective in the following year, since the influenza virus evolves rapidly, and new strains quickly replace the older ones.

• Cancer Immunology

  • The immune response, including the recognition of cancer-specific antigens, is of particular interest in this field as knowledge gained drives the development of new vaccines and antibody therapies.
  • The study of these viruses and their role in the development of various cancers is still continuing; however, a vaccine has been developed that can prevent infection of certain HPV strains, and thus prevent those HPV strains from causing cervical cancer, and possibly other cancers as well.
  • Injection immunotherapy uses mumps, candida the HPV vaccine or trichophytin antigen injections to treat warts (HPV induced tumors).

• Poliomyelitis

  • These epidemics—which left thousands of children and adults paralyzed—provided the impetus for a "Great Race" towards the development of a vaccine.
  • Developed in the 1950s, polio vaccines are credited with reducing the global number of polio cases per year from many hundreds of thousands to today under a thousand.
  • Enhanced vaccination efforts led by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and Rotary International could result in global eradication of the disease.

• Cervical Cancer

  • HPV vaccines effective against the two strains of this large family of viruses that currently cause approximately 70% of cases of cervical cancer have been licensed in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the EU.
  • Since the vaccines only cover some of the cancer causing ("high-risk") types of HPV, women should seek regular Pap smear screening, even after vaccination.