INTRODUCTION The adoption and establishment of new vaccine platforms usually takes decades. The concept of delivering a recombinant virus whose payload is not the virus itself but rather the genetic instructions encoded within the viral genome originated in the 1980s…
INTRODUCTION The technological approaches for making new vaccines have been growing rapidly in recent decades owing to significant advances in a broad range of interrelated fields, including next-generation sequencing and antibody repertoire analysis, molecular and structural biology, genetics (reverse vaccinology,…
Myron J. Levin, BA, MD Professor Pediatrics and Medicine University of Colorado Denver and Health Sciences Center, Aurora Colorado United States INTRODUCTION Herpes zoster (HZ), also called shingles, is a dermatomal vesicular disease. A dermatome is the area of skin…
INTRODUCTION In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Zika Virus (ZIKV) a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). This was in response to the association of ZIKV infection with an increased frequency of infants born with microcephaly and…
Yellow fever virus (YFV) is the prototype member of the Flaviviridae (Latin flavus , “yellow,” after the jaundice seen with the disease) family of viruses. The virus causes a viral hemorrhagic fever, a systemic illness characterized by high viremia, hepatic,…
Maria. A. Nagel, MD Professor Neurology University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora Colorado United States Professor Ophthalmology University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora Colorado United States INTRODUCTION History of Disease Varicella zoster virus (VZV) is an exclusively human…
INTRODUCTION History of Disease Typhoid fever is an acute generalized infection of the mononuclear phagocyte system, intestinal lymphoid tissue, and gallbladder caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. A broad spectrum of clinical illness can ensue, with more severe forms being…
Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is currently the only licensed vaccine available against tuberculosis (TB). The vaccine has been given to over 4 billion people; yet, TB still poses a major public health threat globally. Approximately 25% of the world’s population has…
Tickborne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is a member of the genus Flavivirus , family Flaviviridae, which comprises approximately 70 viruses that cause many serious diseases, including dengue, Japanese encephalitis, West Nile virus neuroinvasive disease, and yellow fever. TBEV is one of…
INTRODUCTION History of Disease Tetanus is unique among vaccine-preventable diseases in that it is not communicable. Clostridium tetani , the causative agent of tetanus, is widespread in the environment; many animals, in addition to humans, can harbor and excrete the…