INTRODUCTION History of Disease Early in the 20th century, investigators studying dengue fever outbreaks successfully transmitted infection from person to person through the bite of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The epidemiology and clinical descriptions of this disease made it possible to…
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a ubiquitous β-herpesvirus that only replicates in human cells and hence is only transmitted by person-to-person spread. CMV infections are generally asymptomatic in immunocompetent individuals but may produce a heterophile-negative mononucleosis syndrome in approximately 10% of primary…
INTRODUCTION: CORONAVIRUSES IN GENERAL Coronaviruses (CoVs) are a family of single-stranded positive (plus, +) RNA viruses with the largest RNA genomes of any human pathogenic viruses, ranging from 26 to 32 kb in length. Pathogenic CoVs of humans and domestic…
The combining of multiple antigens into a single vaccine is not a new concept; combination vaccines have long been a bedrock of immunization programs. Since the early 1990s, we have transitioned from a world in which DTP (diphtheria, tetanus, and…
HISTORY OF DISEASE Cholera is a rapidly dehydrating, watery diarrheal disease caused by intestinal infection with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae serogroups O1 and O139. Cholera has probably existed on the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years. Ancient manuscripts describe the…
Jay A. Berzofsky, MD, PhD Branch Chief Vaccine Branch Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda Maryland United States INTRODUCTION Immunologists have long hoped to exploit the exquisite specificity of the immune system to eradicate cancers. Almost nothing is…
BIODEFENSE AND SPECIAL PATHOGEN VACCINES Military personnel have the potential to be exposed to many infectious agents as endemic diseases and in their unnatural form as biological weapons. Increasingly, civilian populations may be targets for terrorist attacks using microorganisms (or…
Anthrax, a zoonotic disease caused by Bacillus anthracis , has three forms: cutaneous, inhalational, and gastrointestinal. Mortality in untreated cutaneous cases is approximately 20%, but less than 1% if antibiotics are promptly given. Inhalational anthrax is almost 100% fatal if…
HISTORY OF DISEASE In the 1950s, multiple researchers , identified a new agent as the cause of acute respiratory disease (ARD), pharyngitis, conjunctivitis, and pneumonitis. Soon afterward, these agents were recognized to be a related group of viruses and given…
## Recommendations for immunization practices are based on scientific knowledge of vaccine characteristics, biology of immunization, epidemiology of specific diseases, and host characteristics. In addition, experience and judgment of public health officials and specialists in clinical and preventive medicine play…