Recent Advances in Vaccinology

Abstract

Vaccination continues to be the most cost effective, safest and most powerful tool of medicine for preventing

sufferings, disability and death from infectious diseases. The traditional vaccines were developed when one knew

very little about how the diseases were caused and how the immunity worked. Most of the vaccines were developed

by trial and error in animal and human experiments. With the recent advances in molecular biology, immunology

and recombinant DNA technology, one can understand how the antigens are processed and presented to the immune

system and how that affects immune response. Also the current researches are underway into the mechanism of use

of pathogens to infect and cause disease. The developments in vaccinology with DNA vacinnes, transgenic plant

vaccines and combination of vaccines promises an exciting area in prevention and control of infectious diseases.