Vaccination : A Severe Viral Disease

...the patient was exhibiting delirium, visual hallucinations, wide variations in pulse rate and rapid, shallow breathing. Within four days—the median length of survival after the onset of serious rabies symptoms—E.P. was dead (Geiling).

Throughout history, vaccinations have been used to help the prevention of infectious diseases; some of which can produce serious illnesses, crippling disabilities, and ultimately be the cause of death. There is evidence of ancient culture’s attempting to treat transmittable diseases with various forms of inoculations. Developments in the research of vaccinations increased during the mid-twentieth century because of the established of more advanced laboratories, improved equipment, and new innovations. The progression of medicine during history has helped further the development of research into vaccinations. Several cultural, ethical, and religious issues have resulted from the development and use of vaccinations in our society. The topic of vaccinations has caused a strong debate amongst our culture about the safety and danger of treating infectious diseases with such methods.

Vaccinations have been actively used for over 200 years now and have been effective for over 200 years as well. Western medicine’s introduction to the practice is said to have occurred within the eighteenth century, when a traveling British aristocrat, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, reported her observations of Turkish children being injected with pus from smallpox victims. Although this practice seemed quite harsh, most of these children would contract only a mild version of the illness. In return, these recipients would retain a lifelong immunity to this terrible disease (World of Microbiology & Immunology). Similarly, in the United States, a Puritan minister by the name of Cotton Mather learned about inoculation from his African slave, Onesimus. Onesimus claimed that he was inoculated with smallpox pus and never caught the tragic disease (Williams). This type of medicinal treatment was initially rejected by most Western practitioners. They felt it was a dangerous and barbarous practice, but vaccination gained a tremendous amount of support at the turn of the nineteenth century when English physician Edward Jenner created a new smallpox vaccine derived from the relatively mild cowpox virus (Riedel). There’s no doubt that history has shown the positive outcomes of immunization and continued to show them as technology and medicine progressed.

Rabies is spread through animals bites of an infected animal. Symptoms involve fever, headache nausea, etc. The animals that can trasmit rabies are cats, dogs, wolves, bats, and more. The reason why rabies is called hydrophobia, “fear of water”, due to how in one of the symptons of rabies, a person will not be able to swallow liquids which causes

Vaccinations have been repeatedly demonstrated to be one of the most effective interventions to prevent disease worldwide. It was voted by readers of the British Medical Journal in 2007 as one of the four most important developments in medicine of the past 150 years, alongside sanitation, antibiotics and anaesthesia. However, vaccination currently saves an estimated three million lives per year throughout the world and so topped the list in terms of lives saved, making it one of the most cost-effective health interventions available. Modern vaccines provide high levels of protection against an increasing number of diseases and the symptoms, disability and death that can occur from them.

For one to understand the risk behind each vaccination is a very serious matter, identical to other procedures there are calculated risks involved with each vaccine. For example about one in every 520 thousand people will contract the polio disease 7- 30 days prior to receiving the polio oral vaccine (1). This is because the vaccine contains a very small amount of live attenuated strain of bacteria, and in very rare cases can cause the disease that is in attempt to be prevented to be transmitted to the patient. Other side effects include pallor or erythema in site of injection (which only means pale or redness of skins), also one is at risk for anaphylaxis shortly after receiving certain kinds of vaccines, but the most common side effects include rashes and bumps (1). While a more

Vaccines have been used to prevent diseases for centuries, and have saved countless lives of children and adults. The smallpox vaccine was invented as early as 1796, and since then the use of vaccines has continued to protect us from countless life threatening diseases such as polio, measles, and pertussis. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) assures that vaccines are extensively tested by scientist to make sure they are effective and safe, and must receive the approval of the Food and Drug Administration before being used. “Perhaps the greatest success story in public health is the reduction of infectious diseases due to the use of vaccines” (CDC, 2010). Routine immunization has eliminated smallpox from the globe and

Mandatory vaccination continues to be a contentious subject in the United States, even though extensive evidence proves inoculation prevents certain diseases. According to A. Plotkin & L. Plotkin (2011), the evolution of the first vaccine commenced in the 1700’s when a physician named Edwards Jenner discovered that cowpox protected individuals from one of the deadliest diseases termed smallpox. The precise virus Jenner used is unclear; however, it was espoused in the extermination of smallpox worldwide. The researchers further explained, the unearthing of the subsequent vaccine known as chicken cholera occurred approximately 80 years later by Louise Pasteur. Ever since, copious vaccines such as rabies, yellow fever, varicella, pneumococcal, mumps and recently HPV have been introduced.

The cause of his death couldn’t be rabies. “Dr. Benitez admits the primary weakness of his theory- lack of evidence of a bite or a scratch.” (Benedetto 189). Poe had no bites or scratches on him when he died. “Guiltless was the pet Caterina, who, uninfected and showing no signs of rabies” (Benedetto 189). That is the only animal he could’ve gotten “rabies” from. And his cat didn’t have it, Caterina died of

Rabies is a highly infectious viral disease that can easily ruin and eventually end the lives of both humans and animals alike. Rabies comes in two forms for animals. It comes in the form of paralytic rabies, which is the kind that puts you in paralysis right from the beginning, skipping the symptoms of agitation and excitability. Rabies also appears in the form of furious rabies, which is completely different in the way that it makes the victim restless, vicious and agitated. When humans get rabies, their symptoms start out with simple headaches and fevers and later progresses to terrible things such as becoming hydrophobic because of painful throat spasms and paralysis. A definite diagnosis of rabies needs lab analysis of

Measles. Polio. Smallpox. The flu. Imagine the world when vaccines were yet to be created. There was a time when people lived in fear of dreadful diseases. Thanks to the introduction of vaccines, many of those devastating diseases have been nearly or completely wiped out. Despite these results, for some people, the question remains: should we vaccinate? Today, I will be discussing the development of the first vaccine, global benefits, and the anti-vaccine movement.

Rabies had been known about since 2000 B.C. but technology was obviously not advanced enough to try and do anything about the spread of the virus. In the year 1885, France and Belgium had become plagued with more and more cases of the rabies that the fear had soon began to become a very reasonable fear for people to have. This gave Louis Pasteur ample reason to research more about the virus.

Our current society is surrounded by the debatable usage of vaccines and its importance around the world. Since the introduction of immunizations, many diseases have been decreased and even eradicated from humanity. Even though this is true, serious side effects along with lifelong illnesses follow the temporary cure of viruses. A vaccine is a substance that delivers immunity against viruses and is used to stimulate the construction of antibodies. Vaccines are prepared from the disease itself treated to perform as an antigen without inducing the disease (Vaccines). These inoculations are used worldwide and various unknown infections have been speculated as the originations for them. Vaccines were originated as an alternative to cure viruses among people but the harmful symptoms, unknown links to incurable

I am currently in my last year of veterinary school and I remember when I started school all veterinary students were required to be immunized against rabies. People in our profession are at a higher relative risk of rabies exposure due to the nature of our vocation seeing sick animals. However, I did not have to get vaccinated at that time because I had already been vaccinated. At my first veterinary clinic job, I was exposed to a rabid cat. I remember going to an urgent care clinic for post exposure prophylaxis, which included the series of physician office visits for multiple rabies vaccinations. Rabies post exposure prophylaxis has undoubtedly saved hundreds of thousands of lives from disease and eventual death. There are very few people who have survived contracting rabies after becoming symptomatic even with modern day medicine. The consequence of this disease drives a huge risk for exposed individuals and thus a desire for prevention and control. A national rabies surveillance program at the CDC has been gathering state rabies data since 1944 to accurately assess past and current animal and human rabies trends. Thankfully, with rabies vaccination and rabies post exposure prophylaxis the number of human rabies cases has greatly decreased in the United States. However, rabies remains a concern due to its fatal consequences and continued endemic circulation in wildlife.

Abstract: Rabies is a dangerous disease that affects both animals and humans. Rabies is caused by the lyssa virus and is almost 100% fatal. The majority of the people infected die from it but there have been a small number of miraculous cases where people have survived. One very special case took place in the life of Jeanna Giese because she recovered without the use of rabies vaccines. There are four FDA approved vaccines for public usage but they are not guaranteed to cure. Rabies affects many people around the world, especially in underdeveloped nations. It is a very serious disease and is preventable if treatment is received before any symptoms show up.