How Smallpox Faced a Complete Eradication?

Whenever a particular illness stops its circulation in a particular region, it is considered eliminated from that area. However, if the disease is eliminated from the entire face of the earth, then the phenomenon is called disease eradication.  To ensure both eradication and elimination of the disease, vaccine development is given the highest priority; the next slot in the vaccine researchers’ to-do list is secured by clean and quick vaccine delivery.

 

The first-ever disease eradication

Thus far, only one disease, smallpox, has been eradicated in 1980. The decades of initiatives taken by the World Health Organization (WHO) led World Health Assembly to declare smallpox disease as eradicated. Prior to its eradication, the long-in-the-tooth disease had claimed 35% lives of the infected people and left many hapless blind or scarred.

The eradication of smallpox was possible by coordinated efforts put in by the WHO and other health organizations. A well-structured surveillance was the key to eradicate smallpox from its root that had spread all over the world. As soon as a new case of smallpox was registered, the health officials were required to identify other such fresh cases in the same region and administer Ring Vaccination.  The final case of smallpox was reported in Somalia (1977).

Why smallpox was simpler to eradicate?

• Also referred to as variola, smallpox had an obtrusive presence as its patients quickly developed a peculiar form of rashes.
• Second, the time taken for the symptoms to appear was shorter than other diseases
• Third, such short duration had helped in quickly administering the vaccination and containing the disease
•  Final nail in the coffin was when the WHO took consistent efforts to introduce immunizationchart for variola and train the vaccinators. This step was taken to protect those who were not having lifelong immunity to the disease.

With the complete eradication of variola, many hopes were raised to eliminate other maladies such as malaria, polio, dracunculiasis, to mention but a few.

An Introductory Guide To The Vaccine Of Pneumococcal

The most common cause of blood infection, pneumonia, meningitis and ear infection has been a Streptococcus pneumonia bacterium. All of these diseases come under the category of pneumococcal disease. The disease is common during early spring as well as winter and spreads from person-to-person. Some cases of pneumococcal infection have culminated to extensive brain damage. Few invasive pneumococcal infections can also take the life of infants. 

Who should be given a pneumococcal vaccine?

Primarily, the pneumococcal vaccine is administered on three types of individuals –

•  Infants (under the age of 2)
• Old people (above the age of 65)
• Young adults and children having serious kidney or heart condition derived from pneumococcal disease itself

 How often PCV13 is given?

• The infants receive three separate injections – one at two months, followed by another at four months and the last one when during 12-13 months after the birth.
• Senior adults – over the age of 65 years – require a single vaccination, protecting them for life
• The adults and young children require one pneumococcal vaccination or a five-yearly vaccination, depending on the criticality of the health problem.

 Variants of pneumonia vaccine

  

There are two kinds of pneumococcal vaccine:-

• Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV, Prevnar 13 or PCV13) – The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is administered on infants under the age of two. In some countries, the vaccine has become an integral part of the childhood vaccination program.  The development of pneumococcal conjugatevaccine India has risen to a new high with several leading vaccine laboratories contributing in its production.  
• Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) – This is another vaccine, which is administered on people of age 65 and above. Also, the vaccine is given to those people having a continuing health condition.

 Close to 90 types of pneumococcal bacterium have been identified; although, eight to ten of them cause fatal infection. The PCV13 gives protection against 13 strains; similarly, PPV gives protection against nearly 23 strains. With the progresses in medicine, the vaccine development laboratories will soon come up with holistic cures for some of the ills such as pneumonia.

Why a Vaccine for HIV Remains a Pipe Dream?

In 1990, the growth of many infectious diseases was checked. However, during the same time, a virus, still unchecked, had wiped out millions. Researchers were always left speechless when the question of a vaccine to this deadly virus popped up. The virus was known as HIV. Detected in 1984, Human Immunodeficiency Virus/ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) had nearly taken 30 million lives. The major concern for many researches is that HIV, as per now, cannot be prevented since no vaccine has been developed for it. The virus destroys the entire immune system by lowering the levels of CD4+ cells – the main constituent of a human body’s immune system. The reasons, which have stunted the growth prospects of an HIV’s vaccine are many; read on to know.

Reasons as to why there is still no vaccine for an HIV virus

In April 1984, researches declared that they would soon roll out a vaccine to the HIV virus within a span of just two years. The reasons to such heightened levels of optimism are still unknown. The factors held responsible for no development of an HIV vaccine are listed below.

Till date, there has been no recovery made from HIV virus. Unlike other infections such as chickenpox and measles - where a diseased person naturally made recovery with the help of medicines - in HIV no care or medicine can help in reversing the immunity’s deterioration. Moreover, whenever a person gets successfully recovered from a disease (say measles, chickenpox, etc.), the system gets immune to the ailment; such system becomes the model to develop a vaccine. However, no such human immune system is found that has withstood the attack of an HIV virus. 

One name that is consistently striving to bring the best of vaccines to the world is Hilleman Laboratories. The company was established in Delhi and has adopted high-class vaccine development strategies for contributing to healthcare research India. The presence of state-of-the-art vaccines laboratories in the company’s premises has helped it grow by leaps and bounds. The company is a joint venture between merck & wellcome trust for creating sustainable vaccine development. Any other details can be found at – www.hillemanlabs.org.

The Malaria Vaccine: Is it Still a Holy Grail?

For over millennia, Malaria has existed and destroyed several precious lives. With the path-breaking advances in medical science and technology, mankind has, on innumerable occasions, launched an attack to control this parasite. However, all those efforts were to no avail. Several clinical practices to test the candidate vaccine are still underway.

 What are the threats to the development of a malaria vaccine?

If figures are something to go by, mankind has an impressive gain by saving close to 1.1 million lives that almost succumbed to this fatal disease in a span ranging from 2001 to 2010. Such a feat was possible owing to the use of some advanced drugs and bed nets treated with insecticides. Nevertheless, the battle against Malaria has just escalated to a different level as a larger section of mankind is making no bones about showing resistance against the use of such powerful drugs and insecticides. 

What are the prospects of a developing a successful malaria vaccine?

A malaria vaccine is different from any other vaccine (such as that of polio, tetanus, etc.) due to the fact that it has to work with other interventions. First, due to the complexity of Plasmodium parasite’s genome, it has been a herculean task to derive a potent vaccine for averting the disease. Several renowned scientists are carrying out clinical trial (currently in phase three) for preventing the disease. But harboring the complexness of the parasite’s DNA, it is not wise to expect the probable vaccine to singlehandedly tackle the disease. As per the clinical trials taking place in 11 sites of Africa, the candidate vaccine (Mosquirix) is used with insecticide bed nets.

The complexity of vaccine development has always been critical for getting human race out of the clutches of some of the baneful diseases. Hence, only acclaimed name such as Hilleman Laboratories must be thought whenever a vaccine development task is at hand. Apart from vaccine development, the company prepares different types of immunization chart such as immunization schedule for kids. The company believes in the concept of global immunization and strives to achieve it; for any other detail go to – http://www.hillemanlabs.org/.