I loved our visit to the Merieux Biological Science Museum where we learned about immunology and the advances made in the field. From the initial discovery of immunology by Edward Jenner with the smallpox vaccine (named so for the use of cows, or vacca in Latin, for obtaining cowpox samples) to larger applications studied by Pasteur who created the rabies vaccine. These men paved the way for the eradication or control of what were leading causes of death in some regions during our history.
In particular, I liked the displays about how viral diseases are transferred to humans - typically through mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas, as well as direct contact with infected animals. In many cases, animals can be vaccinated to protect them and humans from infection, but there are some where the only protection is for people to get vaccinated against the virus. Unfortunately, there are several areas of the world where viruses mutate too quickly to develop effective vaccines. It is also common that in developing countries, vaccine rates are low because there often isn't enough money or manpower to distribute it.
Despite these obstacles, it was exciting to hear about all the steps we are making in new and better vaccines which makes me optimistic for the future of this field.
I liked how people did not want to take the smallpoxs vaccine cause part of the vaccine was cow. They feared if they took it, they would turn part cow or something. So, Edward Jenner had to use his own family to show the vaccine was fine and worked.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting that even though later vaccines after Jenner did not use bovine materials, the doctors that created them honored his work by keeping the term vaccine.
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