Transcript Chapter 17

Chapter 17
Applications of Immune Responses
A Glimpse in History
• Chinese writings from the Sung Dynasty (AD
960-1280) indicate a process called
variolation, where small crusts of smallpox
pustules were inhaled or placed in a scratch
of the skin.
• The resulting disease was mild, but
permanent immunity developed.
• Variolation was common in China and the
Middle East as long as 1000 years ago, but
did not get popular in Europe until 1719.
• Yet, due to high costs, it was not used
commonly.
 In 1796, Edward Jenner and others worked
together to spread the practice of
variolation.
 Pasteur later changes the term to
vaccination to describe any type of
protective innoculation.
Immunization
• The process of inducing immunity to protect
against disease.
• Immunization has had the biggest impact on
human health of any medical procedure.
17.1 principles of immunization
• Naturally acquired immunity is the
acquisition of adaptive immunity from
normal events, such as exposure to an
infectious agent.
• Artificially acquired immunity is the result of
immunization, where the immune system
responds to the injection.
 Active immunity – result of an immune system
response in an individual upon exposure to
antigen.
 Passive immunity – occurs naturally during
pregnancy. The mothers IgG antibodies cross
the placenta to protect the fetus.
◦ These protect the baby in the first six months of life
◦ IgA is also found in breast milk and protects the
digestive tract.
◦ Unfortunately, this immunity does not form memory.
17.2 Vaccines and Immunization Procedures
• A vaccine is a preparation of a pathogen or
its products used to induce active immunity.
• Vaccines protect the individual as well as a
population by preventing spread of the
disease
– The phenomenon of herd immunity occurs when
a portion of the population is immune to a
disease,
Attenuated Vaccines
• A weakened form of the pathogen that is
generally unable to cause disease.
• The strain replicates in the recipient causing
an infection with a mild or undetectable
disease that usually results in long term
immunity.
• Include the vaccinations for measles,
mumps, rubella, yellow fever, and polio.
• Attenuated vaccines have several
advantages over inactivated ones:
– A single dose of attenuated vaccine is usually
enough to cause long-lasting immunity.
– It can also spread from the immunized person to
their contacts, thus inadvertently giving them
immunity.
• There are few disadvantages of these
vaccines:
– They can possibly cause disease in
immunosuppressed patients and can revert or
mutate to becoming pathogenic again.
– They require refrigeration to keep them active
Inactivated vaccines
• A pathogen that is unable to replicate, but
retains the immunogenicity of the infectious
agent or toxin.
• They cannot cause infection or revert to the
pathogenic form, so they do not cause as
magnified of an immune response.
• To compensate for the low effective dose,
many boosters may be needed.
Inactivated whole agent vaccines
 Contain killed microorganisms or inactivated
viruses.
 Vaccines are made by treating the infectious
agent with a chemical that does not
significantly change the contagion.
 Such treatments leave the agent
immunogenic, but not able to reproduce.
 Vaccines include those against cholera,
influenza, rabies, and the Salk Polio vaccine
Toxoids
• Inactivated toxins used to protect against
diseases due to toxins produced by invading
bacteria.
• The toxins are treated to destroy the toxic
part of the molecule while maintaining the
antigenic sites.
• Vaccines of this type include those for
diphtheria and tetanus.
Protein Subunit vaccines
• Composed of key protein antigens or
antigenic fragments of the infectious agent
rather than the whole cell or virus.
• They can only be developed after research
reveals which component of the microbe
causes the immune response.
• Killed vaccines are known for causing side
effects that can include pain, tenderness at
the injection site, fever, and occasionally
convulsions.
• A subunit vaccine does not cause these side
effects.
• Examples of this type include the hepatitis B
vaccine and the acellular pertussis vaccine.
Polysaccharide vaccines
 Composed of the polysaccharides that make
up the capsule of certain organisms.
 Conjugate vaccines intentionally convert
polysaccharides into T dependent antigens
by linking the polysaccharides to proteins.
 Examples include the Haemophilus
influenza type b (which has nearly
eliminated meningitis in children) and a
vaccine for Streptococcus pneumonia.
• Many inactivated viruses include adjuvant,
which is a substance that enhances the
immune response to antigens.
The importance of routine
immunizations for children
• Before vaccinations, children died of
common childhood diseases; those who
did not die could be permanently disabled.
• One reason some children are not
vaccinated is because their parents refuse
to have them treated due to rare instances
where the vaccine causes harm.
• While there is always risk associated with
any medical procedure, the risks of vaccines
are very low; and the benefits of vaccines far
outweigh the risks.
Current Progress in immunization
• Due to a better understanding of immunity,
great progress is being made.
• An understanding of the immune response
can lead to the development of more
effective vaccines.
• New types of vaccines are being studied:
peptide vaccines, edible vaccines, and DNA
based vaccines are all being studied.
• Peptide are made of antigenic peptides from
disease-causing organisms. They are heat
stable and do not contain materials that
cause unwanted side effects
• Edible vaccines are created by transferring
genes encoding the antigens of an organism
into a plant.
– If produced, they could be grown in many parts
of the world, therefore eliminating problems of
storage and transport.
• DNA based vaccines are segments of naked
DNA from infectious agents that can be
directly introduced into muscles.
– The host tissues expresses the DNA briefly,
producing microbial agents encoded by the DNA
which causes an immune response.
Vaccine Descriptions:
 HEPB: PROTECTS AGAINST HEPATITIS B
 DTAP: A COMBINED VACCINE THAT PROTECTS AGAINST DIPHTHERIA, TETANUS,
AND PERTUSSIS (WHOOPING COUGH)
 HIB: PROTECTS AGAINST HAEMOPHILUS INFLUENZAE TYPE B
 PCV: PROTECTS AGAINST PNEUMOCOCCAL DISEASE
 POLIO: PROTECTS AGAINST POLIO, THE VACCINE IS ALSO KNOWN AS IPV
 RV: PROTECTS AGAINST INFECTIONS CAUSED BY ROTAVIRUS
 INFLUENZA: PROTECTS AGAINST INFLUENZA (FLU)
 MMR: PROTECTS AGAINST MEASLES, MUMPS, AND RUBELLA (GERMAN
MEASLES)
 VARICELLA: PROTECTS AGAINST VARICELLA, ALSO KNOWN AS CHICKENPOX
 HEPA: PROTECTS AGAINST HEPATITIS A
Works Cited
• Nester, Anderson, Roberts and Nester.
Microbiology: A Human Perspective.
• Tortora, Funke, and Case. Microbiology: An
Introduction.
• http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/rec-izbabies.html