November begins the flu season in the Northern Hemisphere, so people have to be vaccinated. Flu shots must be taken every year unlike other vaccines that people only need to take once. But recently researchers have discovered a vaccine that protects against many other types, or strains, of the flu virus, and this might be able to lead to life lasting protection from the flu. Flu shots teach the immune system how to identify the flu virus, and that can help the body reject an infection. The flu virus evolves rapidly, and if your body does not recognize the newest version, it could infect you, so people have to get the newest flu shot every year. But researches at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have discovered a new vaccine that might last …show more content…
They then made a vaccine for the artificial virus by changing the genes so they could not cause illness, and put it into another virus. This is called a vector, which can insert genes into cells. For the vector, scientist chose a virus that causes the common cold. The vector has been changed so it can not make humans or animals sick, but it still could insert DNA into cells. Researchers use their vector to deliver their new vaccine into cells. Scientist tested the new vaccine on mice by giving some mice a low dose of the vaccine, others got a high dose, others got a high dose of FluMist, a standard flu vaccine, and a final group got a high dose of FluZone, the usual flu shot. A month later, scientist exposed mice to one of nine different flu strains. Every mouse that took FluMist or FluZone died, but mice that took the new vaccine stayed alive. Matthew Miller, a researcher at McMaster University, noticed that many studies focused on how well only one part of the immune system responds to the flu vaccine. Most studies in this field focused on how well the body makes antibodies, a class of proteins that help tag infected cells. But the ancestral-flu treatment stimulated others parts of the immune
The first discovery was made in 1952, in the developing field of virology. Virology is the study of viruses and how they behave. To develop the vaccines for the viruses, researchers infected the HeLa cells with many types of infections, such as measles, mumps, and the infamous poliomyelitis virus, also known as Polio. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whose mission is to save lives and protect people’s health security, Polio is a "crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease caused by a virus that spreads from person to person invading the brain and spinal cord and causing paralysis" (Freeman). Jonas Salk, who was a virologist at the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP), used inactivated viruses (virus particles grown in culture and then killed by a form of heat) to create a polio vaccine. Salk drew blood from about two million children, which the NFIP checked for immunization.Through the collection of many HeLa cells and trial and error, the polio vaccine wa...
Jonas Salk was born in New York City. His parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants who, although they themselves lacked formal education, were determined to see their children succeed, and encouraged them to study hard. Jonas Salk was the first member of his family to go to college. He entered the City College of New York intending to study law, but soon became intrigued by medical science. While attending medical school at New York University, Salk was invited to spend a year researching influenza. The virus that causes flu had only recently been discovered and the young Salk was eager to learn if the virus could be deprived of its ability to infect, while still giving immunity to the illness. Salk succeeded in this attempt, which became the basis of his later work on polio. After completing medical school and his internship, Salk returned to the study of influenza, the flu virus. World War II had begun, and public health experts feared a replay of the flu epidemic that had killed millions in the wake of the First World War. The development of vaccines controlled the spread of flu after the war and the epidemic of 1919 did not recur.
The Influenza virus is a unique respiratory viral disease that can have serious economic and social disruption to society. The virus is airborne transmitted through droplets release by coughing or sneezing from an infected person or by touching infected surfaces. Symptoms range from mild to severe and may even result in death. People with the virus usually experience fever, headache, shivering, muscle pain and cough, which can lead to more severe respiratory illness such as pneumonia. People most susceptible to the flu virus are elderly individuals and young children as well as anyone whose health or immune system has been compromise. The most effective way to counteract the influenza virus is to get the flu vaccine which is available by shots or nasal spray before the flu season as well as practicing safe hygiene. (CDC, 2013)
Current influenza vaccines are about 70% to 90% effective in preventing influenza in healthy adults. Since the vaccines are made of dead fragments of influenza viruses, they cannot cause influenza. The strains of influenza that circulate change every year and therefore, it is necessary to make a new influenza vaccine annually. After vaccination, the body's immune system produces antib... ... middle of paper ... ...
While influenza, or the "flu", is not commonly recognized as an extremely lethal disease, the pathology of influenza, and especially of the kind found at Fort Dix, does suggest that an immunization program was a reasonable course to take in 1976. In the public's mind, influenza is often not seen as a specific disease, using interchangeable names for it like "flu", "gripe", and "virus". (Silverstein: 1) However, influenza is very different from an everyday low fever or "stomach flu". It is a respiratory infection, connected with a fever, coughing, and muscle aches, which often la...
Since then, doctors have isolated the virus responsible for the killer flu. Luckily, doctors working during the pandemic had preserved slices of lung from two soldiers, which were stored in a warehouse. The third sample came from a woman in Alaska, whose lungs were preserved from being buried in the permafrost (Kolata, Flu 29-33). Scientists reconstructed the virus by finding its genetic sequence, and they then tested the newly resurrected virus on lab mice and human lung cells. What they discovered was that the 1918 flu was nothing like the more contemporary pandemic strains from the 50s and 60...
During the frigid winter months, the flu takes ahold of the entire country, constraining it in a cough-ridden, congested grasp until taking its leave in the warm months of spring. Several strains of the influenza virus compose collectively of the flu, and these strains mutate — or alter their genetic composition — as the virus creeps into and out of the people and animals it infects. Throughout the year, researchers and doctors scramble to find the most effective prevention for the evasive flu so that one may not feel its wrath. Their main weapon, the vaccination, comes with an apprehensiveness that extends beyond a dread of needles. For the vaccine’s dependence on a prediction, many blast the injection as ineffective and temporary: the flu virus’ mutations necessitate the development of a new shot every year. (Key Facts About Seasonal Flu Vaccine, CDC.gov) Others contend that the shot can harm as much as the virus itself, pointing to the potential for allergic reactions and sometimes severe side effects as evidence. With the risk of side effects and unclear effectiveness in mind, many will elect to either not vaccinate or seek treatment after the flu hits; a common treatment for the flu, the antiviral, disintegrates the virus after it strikes, yet its effectiveness has increasingly declined. While the flu vaccination does not provide comprehensive protection against the influenza virus, the vaccine, in conjunction with other precautionary — not reactionary — measures, provides the needed defense against contraction. Additionally, while a potential recipient should weigh the risk of side-effects and allergic reactions, a doctor can predict allergic reactions by the patient’s medical history and by running tests; other side-effect...
Edward Jenner is often regarded as the “Father of Immunology” for his development of the smallpox vaccine. His remarkable discovery has laid the foundation for future scientists working with immunizations. Jenner’s impact is seen worldwide to this day with the complete eradication of the deadly smallpox virus. Edward Jenner’s Legacy will always live on as the first to vaccinate using a live virus. Vaccines are improving everyday, which benefits the public’s health, all thanks to Edward Jenner.
Jensenius;, J. C. (2006). Vaccine Against Spanish Flu. Science, 311(5767), 1552b-1552b. Retrieved October 27, 2013, from http://www.sciencemag.org.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/content/311/5767/1552.2
At no time was a search for the cure for influenza more frantic than after the devastating effects of the pandemic of 1918. The pandemic killed somewhere between twenty and a hundred million people, making it twenty five times more deadly than the ordinary cough and sneeze flu. The symptoms of this flu were like something straight out of a horror movie: the victim’s facial complexion changed to a dark, brownish purple, the feet turned black, and they began to cough up blood. Eventually, death was caused, literally by drowning, when the victim’s lungs filled with their own blood. The first scientist to claim to solve the enigma of influenza was Dr. Friedrich Johann Pfeiffer. He isolated a bacterium he named Hemophilus influenzae from the respiratory tract of those who had the flu in the pandemic of 1890. He was believed to be correct in his discovery until the pandemic of 1918, when scientists searched the respiratory tracts of influenza victims and only sometimes found his bacterium. Robert E. Shope and his mentor Paul Lewis were the next to attempt to crack the code of influenza. They chose to study the disease in pigs, a controversial choice because many people believed that the swine influenza pigs were contracting was not the same as the human flu. The first experiment they ran was ba...
...us or bacterium used as the carrier. Recombinant vector vaccines are still being experimented on today, just like the DNA vaccinations. The only difference between recombinant vector vaccines and DNA vaccines is the fact recombinant vector vaccines use an attenuated virus or bacterium to introduce microbial DNA to the body’s cells. Scientists created this vaccine by observing nature, and how nature passes viruses along. Scientists noticed that viruses in nature latch on to the cells they want to inject, this caused scientists to figure out how to take parts of an attenuated virus and add genetic matter from other microbes into them. I know this sounds confusing, but it’s quite simple. Just think of it as poisoning the virus. Recombinant vector vaccines are very close to mimicking a natural infection, which causes the immune system to energize and start up sooner.
...mptoms and known pattern of disease. Experiments by scientists, Nicolle and Le Bailly in Paris, were the earliest explanations that influenza was caused by a filter-passing virus. They proved that influenza was due to a submicroscopic infectious agent and not a bacteria. Scientific experiments, such as these, had immediate preventative applications. They were part of an effort to create a vaccine that would prevent the influenza. Vaccines were considered the best preventative treatment at the time. Several scientists tried to create effective vaccines, each with a different understanding of the virus. Dr. Rosenow invented a vaccine to target the multiple bacterial agents involved from the serum of patients. He aimed to raise the immunity against the bacteria, and not the cause of the initial symptoms (Virginia).
Vaccines save us from being infected with viruses. They save approximately 2.5 million people from death every year. However, while they help save lives, vaccines still have both minor and severe side effects. This can result in nausea, severe sickness, and in rare cases, death. Every year, 3,000 to 4,500 people in the United States are hospitalized due to vaccine side effects. It is extremely important for all communities to be informed about the side effects of vaccines and what causes them. Also, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that the influenza vaccine is only 48% effective, due to constant mutation of the virus (Scutti, 2017). This means, the influenza vaccine does not work on all
In order to decide whether or not the swine flu vaccine is completely necessary, one must first gain a better understanding of the topic. It is a scientifically known fact that the swine flu is a result of a virus. A virus is a capsule of genetic material that causes infection in the body. The infectious particles are made up of nucleic acid enclosed in a protein shell, called a capsid. It cannot be considered a living organism like the disease causing agent of bacteria, because it does not carry out all the characteristics of life. Specifically, it cannot reproduce on its own.
The swine influenza or swine flu is a respiratory disease in pigs that is caused by the type A influenza viruses. These viruses are referred to as swine flu viruses but scientifically the main virus is called the swine triple reassortant (tr) H1N1 influenza virus. When the viruses infect humans they are called variant viruses. This infection has been caused in humans mainly by the H1N1v virus in the United States. The H1N1 virus originates in animals due to improper conditions and the food they ingest. The virus stays in latency form, thus harmless to the respective animal. The longer the animals survive the more likely the virus is to develop and strengthen making it immune to vaccines. The virus reproduced through the lytic cycle. The virus injects its own nucleic acids into a host cell and then they form a circle in the center of the cell. Rather than copying its own nucleic acids, the cell will copy the viral acids. The copies of viral acids then organize themselves as viruses inside of the cell. The membrane will eventually split leaving the viruses free to infect other cells.