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Question. How are vaccines different than "over-use of antibiotics" that we always hear about? Are the constant use vaccines creating superbugs?

by _red 12y ago

objclxt 12y ago
Vaccines are very different to antibiotics. Antibiotics are agents which kill bacteria, whereas vaccines train the body to respond to infection using its own antibodies. Vaccines do nothing once you've been infected: they're about increasing your body's immune response to an infection down the line. Additionally, most of the diseases we vaccinate against are caused by viruses. Whilst it's possible for viruses to mutate, this isn't a huge problem because we can simply modify the vaccine to use the new strain (hence why the flu vaccine is given annually). This doesn't apply for antibiotics: we need to find a new agent, which may not exist.
Bluestrike2 12y ago
They're entirely different. Simply put, all a vaccine does is stimulate antibody production to improve immunity against a given disease. What you're effectively asking is if the human immune system itself is creating superbugs. So the simple answer is "no."
- _red 12y ago
  What is the net functional difference between an "antibiotic" and "stimulating antibody production"?
  - hga 12y ago
    "Stimulating antibody production" means you're protected from the antigen for some period of time, be it a virus, or at the other end of things in the case of tetanus, against the neurotoxin that's produced by the bacteria responsible for it. If there are enough antibodies in your system, they'll latch onto their specific antigen, which triggers other parts of the immune system to deal with it. Antibiotics only work while their level in the body is high, and they pretty much are limited to zapping bacteria, by going after things that are different in them from the class of more evolved organisms that includes everything from yeast to humans (many have cell walls like plants, their protein producing machines are slightly different, etc.). They are largely derived from compounds molds evolved to produce, to allow them to better ecologically compete (there are also some bacteria produced antibiotics, although I don't know if any are used as drugs).

Question. How are vaccines different than "over-use of antibiotics" that we always hear about? Are the constant use vaccines creating superbugs?

by _red 12y ago

Question. How are vaccines different than "over-use of antibiotics" that we always hear about? Are the constant use vaccines creating superbugs?

objclxt 12y ago

Vaccines are very different to antibiotics. Antibiotics are agents which kill bacteria, whereas vaccines train the body to respond to infection using its own antibodies. Vaccines do nothing once you've been infected: they're about increasing your body's immune response to an infection down the line. Additionally, most of the diseases we vaccinate against are caused by viruses. Whilst it's possible for viruses to mutate, this isn't a huge problem because we can simply modify the vaccine to use the new strain (hence why the flu vaccine is given annually). This doesn't apply for antibiotics: we need to find a new agent, which may not exist.

Bluestrike2 12y ago

They're entirely different. Simply put, all a vaccine does is stimulate antibody production to improve immunity against a given disease. What you're effectively asking is if the human immune system itself is creating superbugs. So the simple answer is "no."

_red 12y ago
What is the net functional difference between an "antibiotic" and "stimulating antibody production"?
- hga 12y ago
  "Stimulating antibody production" means you're protected from the antigen for some period of time, be it a virus, or at the other end of things in the case of tetanus, against the neurotoxin that's produced by the bacteria responsible for it. If there are enough antibodies in your system, they'll latch onto their specific antigen, which triggers other parts of the immune system to deal with it. Antibiotics only work while their level in the body is high, and they pretty much are limited to zapping bacteria, by going after things that are different in them from the class of more evolved organisms that includes everything from yeast to humans (many have cell walls like plants, their protein producing machines are slightly different, etc.). They are largely derived from compounds molds evolved to produce, to allow them to better ecologically compete (there are also some bacteria produced antibiotics, although I don't know if any are used as drugs).