The number of vaccines currently in development is unprecedented and that progress in this area is keeping pace with the growing threat of emerging and re-emerging diseases.Among new candidates in the pipeline are vaccines against HIV/AIDS, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), West Nile virus, Ebola hemorrhagic fever, dengue and anthrax.
Vaccines — which protect against disease by inducing immunity — are widely and routinely administered around the world based on the common-sense principle that it is better to keep people from falling ill than to treat them once they are ill. Suffering, disability, and death are avoided. Immunization averted about two million deaths in 2002. In addition, contagion is reduced, strain on health-care systems is eased, and money is frequently saved that can be used for other health services.
Your body practices fighting the disease by making antibodies that recognize specific parts of that germ. This permanent or long-standing response means that if you are ever exposed to the actual disease, the antibodies are already in place and his or her body knows how to combat it, so your child doesn't get sick. This is called immunity.The immune system makes antibodies against a germ, like the chickenpox virus, whether it encounters it naturally or is exposed to it through a vaccine.
Immunization is a proven tool for controlling and even eradicating disease.We must reduce human exposure to the bird flu virus. This limits the opportunities for the virus to change. We also have to use the available vaccine against "normal" seasonal flu to its maximum extent to reduce opportunities for the avian flu virus and the seasonal flu virus to mix.
New vaccines also have been introduced with significant results, including the first vaccine to help prevent liver cancer, hepatitis B vaccine, which is now routinely given to infants in 77% of WHO's Member States. Rapid progress in the development of new vaccines means protection will be available in the near future against a wider range of serious infectious diseases.
Anyone who has previously had chickenpox may subsequently develop shingles. They can be male or female, young or old. In general, it is more common in older adults and certainly tends to be more severe in this group. Shingles is more common and more severe in patients with poor immunity. Blisters can occur in more than one area and the virus may affect internal organs, including the gastrointestinal tract, the lungs and the brain.
Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) is the cause of genital herpes.HSV-2, together with HSV-1 and the varicella-zoster virus (chickenpox), belongs to the subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae in the family Herpesviridae.There is now ample evidence that HSV-2 infection is a major cofactor of HIV infection..Although HSV-1 does not actually seem to modify the risk of HSV-2 acquisition, it appears to increase the proportion of asymptomatic seroconverters.
Old age or an impaired immune system can allow the virus to reappear in older adults as shingles, a very painful nerve disease.Chickenpox or shingles in the early months of pregnancy can harm the fetus, but luckily this is rare. The fetus may be infected by chickenpox in later pregnancy, and then devlop shingles as an infant. People 13 and older who have not received the vaccine and have not had chickenpox should get 2 doses 4 to 8 weeks apart. Children who receive the vaccine before age 13 only need to receive 1 dose.
How susceptible are you to an infectious disease? That depends on many factors, such as where you live, your age, your general health and your lifestyle. In tropical climates, for instance, certain diseases — such as malaria and cholera — are constantly present (endemic). In other parts of the world, these diseases pose little or no threat at all.You should always take measures to minimize your risk of infection. Start by evaluating which infectious diseases pose a risk to you.
A slow-movement form of exercise known as tai chi can strengthen the immune system in the elderly and boost the potency of a vaccine against the virus that causes shingles, researchers said on Friday.
They found that tai chi, a westernised version of the 2,000-year-old Chinese martial art, improved the immune system in the elderly against the painful, blistery rash that is caused by the same virus as chickenpox.
When tai chi, which involves a series of movements, was combined with a vaccine against shingles the immunity in the patients reached levels seen in younger people.
"These are exciting findings, because the positive results of this study also have implications for other infectious diseases like influenza and pneumonia," said Professor Michael Irwin, lead author of the study from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
"Since older adults often show blunted protective responses to vaccines, this study suggests that tai chi is an approach that might complement and augment the efficacy of other vaccines, such as influenza," he added in a statement.
Shingles is caused by the varicella zoster virus. People who had chicken pox as children are susceptible to shingles. The virus can remain dormant in the body and as the immune system weakens with age it may cause shingles, which can be very painful and usually lasts three to five weeks.
About one third of adults over 60 years old will suffer from shingles, according to the researchers.
In a study published in the issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Irwin and his team compared 112 elderly people who took tai chi classes three times a week for 16 weeks and others who attended health education classes.
Both groups were also immunised with a dose of a shingles vaccine. At the end of the 25-week study the level of immunity of people who did tai chi was two times higher than the other group. They also functioned better physically and mentally.
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