PSIO 431 Assignment 1 Introduction to Immunology Please read the New England Journal of Medicine article Vaccines and Vaccinations Oct 4 2001 vol 345 No 14 Pg 1042 It is available as a pdf on Notebowl in the Assignment section as well as in the Syllabus etc folder The article ties together a lot of different aspects of Immunology that are in the introductory notes And there s a lot you can take away from the article regardless of your Immunology background Chances are you will not understand all the immunology that is in the article It is only the first week of class By the end of this course the article will be crystal clear I have provided a variety of questions from which you can choose to answer Please answer ONLY THREE of the question And use your own thinking not just what you read in the article Make sure your answers are well thought out and presented write FULL answers too brief and you ll lose points Please answer only 3 of the following questions 1 What is the point of vaccination The point of vaccination is to not only to protect yourself from acquiring a potentially deadly illness but also to help protect others around you by not spreading it and creating an epidemic Young children and older adults typically have a weaker immune system making it hard for them to fight off illnesses as easily If an otherwise healthy individual chooses to not get vaccinated and ends up getting something such as influenza that person s immune system may be able to fight the virus itself but if that person spreads it around and a person with a weakened immune system who also hasn t been vaccinated acquires it it can be potentially deadly Vaccinations have the ability to stay in a persons body and when they come into contact with that virus the vaccination will be able to recognize the pathogen by its surface antigens and know that its an invader which allows the body to send out signals to the appropriate cells for it to destroy and attack it before allowing the person to get sick 2 What would you tell one of your clients who is considering NOT vaccinating his daughter due to vaccine safety issues I would explain that the benefits outweigh the slight possibility of side effects I would tell him that there are some not so serious potential side effects within the first 24 such as swelling in the area that was injected some redness a fever and rarely anything more serious Also that only about 1 in a million people being vaccinated for the measles have a serious reaction such as demyelinating encephalopathy which is a similar disease to multiple sclerosis But that if his daughter does acquire measles that there is a 1 in 1000 chance of developing it anyways So realistically the daughter would be safer getting the vaccination Also most parents always bring up the fact that they don t want to vaccinate their child because of rumors that it can cause autism So assuming that that concern arises I would tell him how there have been over 10 different studies done on it and that scientists have found no correlation between vaccinations and autism and that vaccinating his daughter would be the recommended action to take in concerns of safety and health 3 What are some of the issues involved in why certain diseases are not seen in the Americas but still seen in developing countries 4 Would you eat transgenic food if it protected you from HIV Please discuss the pros and cons of this kind of treatment Personally I would not eat transgenic food While HIV is very serious and deadly it can be protected against with the use of condoms abstinence or only having sexual intercourse with someone who has proof of being STD free Some pros however are Being protected from HIV in conditions such as accidental needle stick or blood transfusions The ease of administration Protection in people who have weakened immune systems Protections in people who are dating someone who knowingly has HIV Most likely inexpensive Some cons Having possible side effects No insurance on the long term effects it may cause If taken repeatedly and with low levels it may actually cause suppression in the antibody production Cooking the food would kill the virus making it useless If accidently ingested while pregnant may cause the fetus to inherit HIV Hard to have control over if mixed with other fruits vegetables in the refrigerator someone may unknowingly be consuming it Crops would have to be carefully harvested and manufactured Unknown levels being consumed 5 Throughout the immune system the theme of amplification is prominent What role does amplification play in vaccination 6 What are some questions you d ask if you were asked to be involved in a pilot study of a new polio vaccine 7 Compare and Contrast live agent and DNA vaccines