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The Invisible Army
Published in Norman Begg, The Remarkable Story of Vaccines, 2023
Viruses are a very different ballgame. Even more abundant than bacteria, they are much, much smaller, measured in nanometres (billionths of a metre). To see a virus, you need a high-resolution microscope called an electron microscope. The electron microscope wasn’t invented until 1931, which is one of the reasons that vaccines for viral diseases like influenza came later than for bacterial diseases. Viruses are hardy to say the least. In the 1990s, a team of scientists exhumed a body of an Inuit woman in the permafrost of a remote village in Alaska. She had died of influenza during the 1918 pandemic. Seventy-five years later, they were able to revive the genetic material of the virus in her body, enabling them to recreate its entire genetic sequence. In 2016, researchers from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, were able to recover genetic material of the smallpox virus from a mummified boy who had been buried in Lithuania in the seventeenth century. The genetic material in these ancient corpses was not able to replicate, so it wasn’t infectious. In the right conditions, however, some viruses can survive intact for many years and cause disease. Samples of smallpox virus have been found alive and well, stored in envelopes in laboratories for up to seven years. Unlike the fragments of viruses found in Alaska and Lithuania, these were capable of being infectious, which is one of the reasons why the destruction of laboratory stocks of smallpox virus was so critical to the eradication of the disease.
The Inducible System: History of Development of Immunology as a Component of Host-Parasite Interactions
Published in Julius P. Kreier, Infection, Resistance, and Immunity, 2022
One of the earliest immunization procedures, probably developed in China, was termed “variolation” People were deliberately inoculated with infectious material from persons with mild cases of smallpox. After recovery, these people were immune to subsequent infection by the smallpox virus. This dangerous procedure was based on the common observation that people who had recovered from even a mild case of smallpox were seldom infected a second time. Immunity was specific, and a person immune to small pox remained susceptible to infection by other pathogenic organisms.
Suffering with two dissimilar diseases
Published in Dinesh Kumar Jain, Homeopathy, 2022
Cowpox virus and smallpox virus both are similar immunologically; this means both have similar antigenic structures. They make common antibodies. Antibodies developed after cowpox inoculation prevent the development of smallpox and vice versa. It is not the similarity in symptomatology but the similarity in (immunological) an antigenic structure that prevents other diseases by the formation of common antibodies. Cowpox virus develops antibodies that also kill smallpox virus. And smallpox viruses develop antibodies that also kill cowpox viruses. This is the actual mechanism.
Molecular engineering tools for the development of vaccines against infectious diseases: current status and future directions
Published in Expert Review of Vaccines, 2023
Wenhui Xue, Tingting Li, Ying Gu, Shaowei Li, Ningshao Xia
Infectious pathogens present a considerable threat to global health, and their prevention and control remain a primary focus of the global public health system [1]. Various strategies, such as monitoring, social distancing, and vaccination, are employed to mitigate and control infectious diseases [2,3]. Among these approaches, vaccination is the most cost-effective and efficient method for preventing and treating infectious diseases [4]. Large-scale vaccination campaigns have successfully eradicated the highly virulent smallpox virus throughout history [5]. Moreover, vaccination has significantly decreased the incidence and mortality rates of numerous severe infectious diseases, including polio [6], rotavirus enteritis [7], hepatitis B [8], diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis [9], cervical cancer, mumps [10], and others. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report, the widespread use of vaccines can save between 3.5 and 5 million lives annually. Despite varying acceptance and accessibility of vaccines across different nations and regions, their impact on public health is undeniable [11]. However, as human society rapidly develops, the complexity of viruses we face continues to increase [12]. The unpredictable COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates that emerging high-risk and highly variable viruses still pose substantial threats and present significant global health challenges [13]. Furthermore, effective protective vaccines for pathogens such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Zika virus are still lacking [14,15]. Overcoming these challenges necessitates further advancements in vaccine research and development.
In-depth review of delivery carriers associated with vaccine adjuvants: current status and future perspectives
Published in Expert Review of Vaccines, 2023
Yarong Zeng, Feihong Zou, Ningshao Xia, Shaowei Li
Vaccines are preventive biological products used for human immunization to prevent and control the occurrence and prevalence of diseases. In recent years, vaccination has emerged as the most cost-effective means to protect against various pathogens and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Vaccines have successfully eradicated or effectively prevented and controlled once-fatal diseases such as smallpox virus, poliovirus, human papillomavirus (HPV), and hepatitis B virus (HBV) [1–4]. However, with the emergence of new or highly mutated pathogens such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Ebola virus, influenza virus, coronavirus, monkeypox virus, etc., there is still an urgent need for more safe and effective vaccines with universal applicability to combat the threat of emerging infectious diseases [5–9].
The discovery of novel antivirals for the treatment of mpox: is drug repurposing the answer?
Published in Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery, 2023
Ahmed A. Ezat, Jameel M. Abduljalil, Ahmed M. Elghareib, Ahmed Samir, Abdo A. Elfiky
Tecovirimat (originally named ST-246) is an orally bioavailable synthetic compound identified by a high-throughput screening study against vaccinia virus and later found to be active at submicromolar concentration against different poxviruses, including MPXV [7,8]. Tecovirimat inhibits p37 (also known as VP37), an envelope-wrapping conserved protein in all orthopoxviruses that mediates the formation and egress of enveloped virions; hence it blocks the cellular transmission of the virus to new cells [9]. Tecovirimat efficacy was proved in animal models challenged with the vaccinia virus and MPXV [10,11]. Phase I of clinical trials showed that tecovirimat is safe and well tolerated with a proposed dose of 600 mg twice daily [12]. Furthermore, in a monkey model challenged with a lethal dose of MPXV, this drug conferred 100% survival when the treatment started five days post-challenge and 50% when the drug was administered eight days after exposure [13]. Since 2018, this drug has become the first antiviral agent against poxviruses to be approved by the FDA for treating smallpox virus infections in adults and children who weigh ≥ 13 kg [9]. The European Medicines Agency and Health Canada approved the drug for infections of MPXV a few months before the outbreak; however, it is still an investigational drug in the US.