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Bacterial Viral and Fungal Diseases Transmissible Through Air
#3
Influenza vaccine

The previous article gives a useful overview on airborne infectious agents and the vaccines and drugs that are available currently to counter them. One of the infections mentioned is the influenza virus, for which the articles mentions the Trivalent Influenza Vaccine (TIV) is available. However, there are challenges in administering an effective influenza vaccination programme each year which are inherent to the nature of the influenza virus. These challenges are chiefly due to the high mutation rate of the virus, necessitating new variations of the vaccine to be produced every year. There are also issues with ensuring an adequate global supply of influenza vaccine, which is essential in view of its potential to cause pandemics and its danger in particular for vulnerable groups such as the elderly or those with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes. Thus interest is high in trying to develop a universal influenza vaccine against different viral subtypes.

The natural immune response to influenza virus is primarily mediated via antibody responses to surface proteins including haemagglutinin (HA) and this is the main basis for the influenza vaccine. However, a strong T cell response is also mounted to internal viral proteins in cases where disease severity is limited. Recent research aimed at trying to develop a universal vaccine against different influenza subtypes has focused on the possibility of boosting memory T cell responses to internal influenza antigens in order to provide help to the antibody responses. Also, the relatively conserved stem region of HA has prompted interest in developing the potential to use broadly neutralising antibodies to contribute to a universal vaccine. The fight continues to develop the armoury in the fight against influenza vaccine.

Source

LI, C.K., RAPPUOLI, R. and XU, X., 2013. Correlates of protection against influenza infection in humans-on the path to a universal vaccine? Current opinion in immunology, 25(4), pp. 470-476
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RE: Bacterial Viral and Fungal Diseases Transmissible Through Air - by mtwalsh01 - 09-30-2013, 09:52 PM
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