biotechnology

Post by linda miller

Vaccination is a method in biotechnology that has been in use for a long time now. A vaccine is any preparation intended to create immunity to a disease by stimulating the production of antibodies. Vaccines generally contain a small quantity of an agent that resembles a microorganism. The agent stimulates the body’s immune system to recognize the agent as foreign, destroy it, and don’t forget it, so that the immune system can a lot more effortlessly recognize and destroy any of these microorganisms that it encounters at a later stage. The most typical method of administering vaccines is by inoculation, but some are given by mouth or nasal spray (Deborah yao).Vaccines can be prophylactic (i.e. to stop or ameliorate the effects of a future infection by any natural pathogen) or therapeutic. There are a number of types of vaccines presently in use: 1st, there are those vaccines containing previously virulent micro-organisms which have been killed with chemicals or heat (e.g. vaccines against flu and cholera). There are vaccines that contain live microorganisms cultivated under conditions that disable their virulent properties (e.g. vaccines for measles, mumps and yellow fever). Other vaccines are inactivated toxic compounds in instances where these (rather than the micro-organism itself) trigger illness (e.g. vaccines for tetanus and diphtheria). These are referred to as toxoid vaccines. Some vaccines are created from protein subunits, that are rather than introducing an inactivated or attenuated micro-organism to an immune system (which would constitute a “entire-agent” vaccine), a fragment of it is utilised to develop an immune response (e.g. the subunit vaccine utilised against Hepatitis B virus that is composed of only the surface proteins of the virus). Finally, there are some particular bacteria that have polysaccharide outer coats that are poorly immunogenic. These outer coats are linked to proteins (e.g. toxins) such that the immune system can be led to recognize the polysaccharide as if it were a protein antigen (e.g. in the Haemophilus influenzae kind B vaccine). A number of innovative experimental vaccines are also being pursued presently and can only be said to be far more in developmental phase although still in use e.g. the recombinant vector approach and DNA vaccination approach ( Maria Manuel Veloso)The United Nations Convention on Biology Diversity defines biotechnology as: Any technological application that uses biological systems, dead organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify items or processes for distinct use. In our case we use techniques such as DNA vaccination, linking outer polysaccharide coatings of bacteria with toxins etc to synthesize shots that can be utilised to avoid diseases or to relieve the discomfort of cancer patients. To know the immense rewards of vaccination we can look at the recent cases of Swine flu that have afflicted the entire globe. As (Stobbe) in his write-up says, the virus already has caused at least 27,000 illnesses and 127 deaths in the US alone (27 June 2009). We can’t start to fathom what would occur if vaccines did not exist to curb the Swine flu epidemic. Vaccine alternatives are also becoming pursued in the search for a indicates of containing HIV/Aids ( Stobbe, M (27 June 2009))1 of the greatest challenges of immunization is to make certain vaccine safety and quality. Clinical trials, top quality control during production and distribution and point of use safety practices for immunization need to be in place. Other procedures include characterization of beginning supplies by supplier audits, demonstration of production consistency and enhanced pre and post-marketplace surveillance for feasible adverse events, following the use of these vaccines. These procedures aid assure vaccine top quality, efficacy and safety. Regulatory authorities in the numerous countries in the world also want to be far more vigilant in assessing the use, storage and safety of vaccines inside their jurisdictions.

About the Author

The author Linda Miller has academic writing encounter of over ten years. She holds a PHD in education from Harvard. She has been assisting students in writing professional academic papers such as thesis, dissertations, analysis papers and term papers. braviaresearchpapers.com