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Avian influenza: Work on vaccines is never over
As long as dangerous diseases such as avian flu and AIDS are still around us

D. Murali

If deadly diseases such as smallpox, polio, diphtheria and measles have, for the most part, become distant memories, much of the credit goes to vaccines — medical miracles that many take for granted.

When flu is in the air, isn't it time to talk vaccine? Such as injections of the cervical cancer vaccine for men "to protect themselves from other diseases and prevent them infecting their sexual partners," as New Zealand Herald reports. Or, the new vaccine against gastroenteritis, which is considered a `democratic' disease, affecting all socio-economic classes, as www.radiojamaica.com informs.

More worrying, however, are the stories about bird flu, or avian influenza, vaccine. For instance, www.14wfie.com says that American researchers are planning to test a vaccine against the dangerous H5N1 bird flu virus in children. "The vaccine, made from an inert form of the H5N1 virus found in Vietnam, will be tested on 120 children, ages 2 to 9." The UK has failed to stockpile flu vaccine for birds, says http://news.independent.co.uk. It seems there is a view that mass pre-emptive inoculation can "only serve to drive the disease underground by making it difficult to detect a genuine outbreak."

On the contrary, "Poultry farmers in France and the Netherlands are waiting to begin the process of vaccinating 30 million ducks and 300 million chickens against H5N1," as The Independent informs. According to Klaus Stohr, WHO's special adviser on influenza pandemic vaccine development, cited in a www.washingtonpost.com story, the world has spent more than $3 billion to stockpile anti-virals against bird flu, but that is not enough for developing an influenza pandemic vaccine. Queer, it sounds, therefore, when, closer home, Venkateshwara Hatcheries chief says she'd fight tooth and nail if the Government were to bring in the vaccine. Vaccines aren't coming with guarantees. For example, www.theaustralian.news.com.au reports, "Vaccine-maker CSL has warned it may have to seek a government guarantee protecting it from lawsuits if it is asked to fast-track its prototype bird flu vaccine on to the market before all trials are completed."

Vaccine, as per Concise Oxford English Dictionary, is "an antigenic preparation used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provides immunity against a disease." Vaccines may elicit both prophylactic (preventative) and therapeutic responses, educates Drug Discovery & Development (www.dddmag.com).

Vaccine is "a suspension of attenuated or killed micro-organisms (bacteria, viruses or rickettsiae), administered for the prevention, amelioration or treatment of infectious diseases," says www.biology-online.org. "A process where live (usually weakened) or dead pathogens are implanted into an organism to bring about a specific immune response. This is done so the recipient of the vaccine can develop antibodies specific to the pathogen in the event of a real attack."

The word vaccination is from 1803, says Online Etymology Dictionary. "Used by British physician Edward Jenner for the technique he devised of preventing smallpox by injecting people with the cowpox virus (variolæ vaccinæ)." Homepage of The Edward Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research www.jenner.ac.uk narrates that in May 1796 a dairymaid, Sarah Nelmes, consulted Jenner about a rash on her hand. Jenner diagnosed cowpox rather than smallpox, and Sarah confirmed that one of her cows, a Gloucester cow called Blossom had recently had cowpox. "Jenner realised that this was his opportunity to test the protective properties of cowpox by giving it to someone who had not yet suffered smallpox." Who was that someone? James Phipps, the eight-year old son of Jenner's gardener. One learns that Jenner made a few scratches on one of James' arms and rubbed into them some material from one of the pocks on Sarah's hand. "A few days later James became mildly ill with cowpox but was well again a week later." Which was proof that cowpox could pass from person to person, and also from cow to person. To check if cowpox protected James from smallpox, Jenner variolated the boy. "James did not develop smallpox, either on this occasion or on the many subsequent ones when his immunity was tested again." Variolation is an obsolete method of immunising patients against smallpox by infecting them with substance from the pustules of patients with a mild form of the disease (variola minor), explains www.britannica.com. "The method was popularised in England in 1721-22 by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu; it had long been known by the Turks, Chinese, and other peoples."

Inoculation is believed to have started in India or China before 200 B.C., states Wikipedia. "Physicians in China immunised patients by picking off pieces from drying pustules of a person suffering from a mild case of smallpox, grinding the scales to a powdery substance, and then inserting the powder into the person's nose in order for them to be immunised."

Variolation had its own problems — such as identification of a suitable strain of the virus, and the more serious issue of fatalities. In the UK, "variolation was forbidden by Act of Parliament in 1840 and vaccination with cowpox was made compulsory in 1853." Vaccine is an adjective, meaning `pertaining to cows, from cows' (1798), states www.etymonline.com. "From Latin vaccinus `from cows,' from vacca `cow'." The use of the word for diseases other than smallpox is attributed to Louis Pasteur (1881). "The noun vaccine `matter used in vaccination' is recorded from 1846; vaccinate is an 1803 coinage."

Taking inspiration from Jenner's work, "Pasteur reasoned that if a vaccine could be found for smallpox, then a vaccine could be found for all diseases," as www.historylearningsite.co.uk narrates. He achieved acclaim when his anthrax vaccine was tested in public, on sheep. Pasteur is more remembered for his rabies vaccine, tested apprehensively in 1885 on a young boy, Joseph Meister, who had been bitten by a rabid dog.

"Deadly diseases such as smallpox, polio, diphtheria and measles have, for the most part, become distant memories. Most of the credit goes to vaccines, medical miracles that many take for granted," notes Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Institute (www.sabin.org). For instance, smallpox that killed over 300 million people in the 20th century, more than all wars combined, was wiped out in 1979. Work on vaccines is never over. As long as dangerous diseases such as avian flu and AIDS are still around us.

ComingToTerms@TheHindu.co.in

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