5. Discuss progress towards vaccines to prevent the common cold
- Answered by Anonymous.
Intro:- Background information on the common cold
-picocornaviruses family
-rhinoviruses and coronaviruses -Small, positive sense RNA viruses
-transmission person to person through contamination or aerosols
-virus binds to specific receptors on respiratory epithelial cells
-mild upper respiratory infections
-cold is self limiting and host immune system effectively deals with the infection
-within a few days the host’s humoral immune response begins producing specific antibodies that can prevent the virus from infecting cells
Para 1: There are no vaccines, why?
-200 serotypes- antigenic diversity
-difficult to grow in the lab
-rapid change in protein coat that is recognized by the body’s immune system
-If a vaccine was made for one strand, it may only be effective for a few days
-speed of mutations
-A vaccine would need to combine many viral antigens in the one vaccine
-economic costs- very expensive to produce a vaccine that would be specific for a specific viral strain that would only last for a limited period of time
-days off work run into the billions, however developing a vaccine is not a viable proposition
Para 2: What other alternatives have been explored?
-prophylaxis
-use of recombinant interferon alpha administered by a nasal spray- when given for 5 days before viral infection, interferon was 80% effective at preventing illness
-antiviral drugs that inhibit various stages of the viral lifecycle have been developed
-they include compounds that bind the viral capsid and block uncoating
-these are proven safe and effective, but their effectiveness is reduced due to emergence of resistant strains
Conclusion:
-Although common cold- benign illness- also assoc with asthma and lower respiratory tract infections can be life threatening, there needs to be more effective ways to control these common cold infections. As vaccine approaches do not seem viable, current efforts should be directed towards effective antiviral compounds.
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1 comment:
Hmm it's a bit difficult to really speak about progress for the common cold because none have been made!
There seems to be more potential for prophylaxis and medicines that are aimed at stopping the viruses from spreading.
"Both bovine and human lactoferrins were found to be potent inhibitors of EV71 infection"[8] and "ribavirin could be a potential anti-EV71 drug."[12]. Enterovirus-induced myocarditis has been successfully treated with interferon-α.[13]
keep in mind that there are tons of viral candidates that cause the 'common cold'. These viruses include the picocornaviruses, in particular the sub-groups Enterovirus and Rhinoviruses cause such respiratory tract infections.
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