An Overview Of Vaccines Flashcards
Learning Objectives
- List the vaccines routinely used in all countries and describe the diseases against which they are used
Appreciate the impact vaccines have had on childhood infectious diseases - Explain the reasons for differences in vaccine use for different countries
- Describe the different types of vaccines
- Understand the rationale for maternal immunisation against pertussis
- Explain the difficulties in delivering vaccines to ‘in need’ populations within LICs and LMICs
- Explain the different types of COVID-19 vaccines in the context of global health
Describe Diptheria
- Infectious respiratory disease caused by toxigenic strains of bacteria Corynebacterium diphtheriae or Corynebacterium ulcerans
- Transmitted via airborne droplets
- Bacteria infect the throat and sometimes the skin
- Incubation period from 2-7 days
- Patients with untreated disease may be infectious for up to four weeks
- Affects people of all ages - most serious in young infants and the elderly
List the features of diptheria
- Early signs: mild fever, swollen neck glands, anorexia, malaise, cough
- 2-3 days: membrane of dead cells forms in throat, tonsils, larynx or nose
- May narrow or occlude the airway leading to respiratory distress
What are the severe symptoms of Diptheria?
- Toxin can travel through bloodstream causing extensive organ damage, neurological and heart complications
- Death occurs in 5-10% of cases
- Milder infection can still occur in people who are partially vaccinated or were vaccinated a long time ago
Describe the cases and deaths of Diptheria in England and Wales between 1914 and 2009
- Cases kept fluctuating between 400k and 750k from 1914 to 1939
- Cases then sharply dropped after 1939
- deaths slowly declined from 1914 to 1949
Describe Tetanus
- Caused by bacterium Clostridium tetani
- Non-communicable therefore vaccination required for protection (no herd immunity)
- Bacteria form spores that can survive in the environment for years
- Tetanus may occur if a wound or cut is infected by soil or manure
- Incubation period 4-21 days
- Affects people of all ages
- People who recover from tetanus do not have natural immunity therefore need to be immunised
List the symptoms of tetanus
- Initially: muscle stiffness of the jaw (“Lockjaw”) 50% cases
- Followed by: neck stiffness, difficulty swallowing, stiffness of stomach muscles, muscle spasms, sweating and fever
- Complications Include: Fractures, Hypertension, Laryngospasm, Pulmonary embolism, Aspiration, Death
What is neonatal tetanus?
- More frequent in developing countries
- Infant born without protective passive immunity
- Infection of the umbilical cord stump
- High fatality rate without therapy
Describe how the maternal vaccination of tetanus is used
- WHO: 2 doses of TT during 1st pregnancy and 1 dose in each pregnancy until 5 doses
- 47 countries eliminated MNT between 2000 - 2020
- This leaves 12 countries yet to eliminate MNT
Describe Pertusis (Whooping Cough)
- Disease of the respiratory tract caused by Bordatella pertussis
- Spread easily from person-to-person in droplets produced by coughing or sneezing
- Most dangerous in children under 1 year, most severe in young infants
- Incubation period 6-20 days with a range of 4 - 21 days
- Infectious from 6 days after exposure to 3 weeks after onset of cough
- Duration of illness can be 2-3 months
List the symptoms of pertussis
- Initially: cold-like symptoms - runny nose, watery eyes, sneezing, fever and a mild cough
- Followed by: gradually worsening cough, which develops to paroxysms of coughing followed by characteristic whoop
What are the complications of pertussis?
- Respiratory – collapsed lung and/or pneumonia
- Neurological – lack of oxygen leading to altered consciousness, convulsions, permanent brain damage, death
- Severe weight loss and dehydration due to vomiting
- Sudden death - babies may stop breathing, apnoeic attacks
What is the vaccine for pertussis?
- There are 2 types:
- Whole cell vaccine (wP) – suspension of whole killed Bordetella pertussis organisms
- Acellular vaccines (aP) – contain 2, 3, or 5 highly purified components from the B pertussis organism
Describe the effectiveness of the pertussis vaccination in pregnancy
- 20 deaths in babies with confirmed pertussis born after programme introduction: 18 not vaccinated; 2 vaccinated too late VD
Describe the pertussis infection in young UK infants
- Dose 1 received at week 8
- Dose 2 received at week 12
- Dose 3 received at week 16
- Rate of infection peaks at week 3 and steadily starts to decrease afterwards from 70 to 10 by week 17
Describe the effectiveness of the pertussis vaccination in pregnancy
- At <3 months, vaccination effectiveness was 91%
- At <2 months, vaccination effectiveness was 90%
Describe the poliovirus
- Three types - I, II, & III
- Virus enters via the mouth
- Replicates in pharynx and GI tract
- Invades local lymph tissue
- Enters blood stream and may infect cells of central nervous system causing aseptic meningitis
- More rarely replicates in and destroys the motor neurones which activate the muscles (~1:100 infections)
Describe the dynamics of poliomyelitis
- Transmitted through contact with the faeces or pharyngeal secretions of an infected person
- Incubation period: ranges from 3 – 21 days
- Infectiousness: not precise but transmission is possible as long as virus is excreted
- Virus can be excreted for up to six weeks in the faeces and two weeks in saliva
- Most infectious immediately before and 1-2 weeks after onset of paralytic disease
Describe paralytic polio
- Less than 1% of all polio infections result in flaccid paralysis
- Paralysis develops 1-10 days after prodromal illness and progresses for 2-3 days
- The use of one or both arms or legs may be lost and breathing may not be possible without help of a respirator.
The degree of recovery varies from person to person
What was the polio vaccine?
- Until Oct 2004, live polio vaccine, given by mouth was used in UK
- Very effective and stimulates immune response in the blood and gut
•Very rarely (1 in a million) vaccine virus reverts back to wild type causing Vaccine Associated Paralytic Polio (VAPP) - Cases of VAPP have been reported in recipients of OPV and in contacts of the recipients
- OPV replaced by IPV
Visit slides for diagrams
Describe the rotavirus
- Most common cause of diarrhea in children aged ≤5 years worldwide
- Highly infectious: only 10-00 virus particles needed for infection
- Transmission mainly through the faeco-oral route
- Contaminated food/water
- Contact with contaminated objects or surfaces
- Can live for hours on hands and get spread from by human contact
- May remain viable in the environment for months if not disinfected
- Sometimes through respiratory droplets: by sneezing and coughing
- Children can spread rotaviruses both before and after they become sick with diarrhea increased risk in daycare facilities
- Contagiousness period 8 days (>30 days if immunocompromised)
List the signs and symptoms of rotavirus
- Sudden onset abdominal pain & vomiting - usually lasts 24-48 hours
- Profuse watery diarrhea - lasting 3 to 8 days (median 6 days)
- Mild to Severe dehydration – if untreated can result in death
- Fever
- Adults and older children can also become infected – mild symptoms, often asymptomatic
- DIAGNOSIS: often based on symptoms and physical examination, but can test stools for rotavirus antigen
- TREATMENT: supportive care, rehydration (preferably orally), may need hospital admission for IV fluids.
Describe the burden of rotavirus
- Globally:
- Nearly every child will have rotavirus gastroenteritis by 5 years of age
- 1 in 5 will visit an outpatient clinic
- 1 in 60 will be hospitalised
- 1 in 293 will die due to the disease (600,000 deaths annually)
- In England and Wales, in children <5 years of age: Estimated annual cost of £14.8 million in E&W