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It's not just antibiotics, but some types of vaccines are creating evolutionary pressure and new strains of the pathogen. E.g. for pertussis > it is thought th
by spraak 7y ago
It's not just antibiotics, but some types of vaccines are creating evolutionary pressure and new strains of the pathogen. E.g. for pertussis
> it is thought that B. pertussis is adapting under acellular vaccine mediated immune selection pressure, towards vaccine escape [1]
> an increase in asymptomatic infection with concomitant increases in transmission and increased selection pressure for Bordetellapertussis variants that are better able to evade vaccine-mediated immunity than older isolates [2]
[1] https://academic.oup.com/femspd/article/73/8/ftv064/2467598 https://academic.oup.com/femspd/article/73/8/ftv064/2467598
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1567134816300636 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S156713481...
- phkahler 7y ago>> some types of vaccines are creating evolutionary pressure... Wouldn't it be nice if we had more eradication programs? Evolution is going to work around every vaccine eventually unless we eradicate the disease. Yes, this is a hard problem but I think long term its worth it. Eventually we might get good at it.
- spraak 7y agoI don't believe that eradication is possible, but I'm curious to hear more what your thoughts are
- fzeroracer 7y agoEradication is absolutely possible. High enough vaccination rates would help prevent further evolution of viruses, eventually containing them and then removing them provided there aren't alternative vectors like animals or pets. Unfortunately, certain other efforts are compromising this.
- Fomite 7y agoIt's not at all clear the pertussis vaccine creates a strong and lasting immunity enough to be an eradication target. Honestly, it's not one of the more promising eradication targets.
- maxerickson 7y agoSmallpox is a counterexample to your concern. Polio almost is, the issues are social and political and have little to do with vaccine escape.
- BurningFrog 7y agoAny disease that only affects humans can be eradicated with a universal vaccine. If it lives on in other species, it's a much harder problem.