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Since time immemorial, man has been battling disease and illness is all forms and types. Many of these conditions have been fatal or disabling for life. But just as nature has presented us with these infections, it has also provided us with the mechanism to fight them. The strongest tool to fighting diseases is our immune system. Any exposure to infection is a learning experience and prepares the body to fight it the next time it comes around. Years of experimentation and research have fine tuned the ways and means of preparing the immune system to fight infections. The simplest and most common way of achieving this is through Vaccinations. Simply put, a vaccination is the process of introducing specific pathogens into the human body in order to produce immunity to that disease. A vaccination prepares the body to recognise the infection in the future and be ready to fight it. Thus, a small exposure to the disease early on can help the body fight a full blown attack at some later time. Vaccinations changed the way humans viewed and dealt with illness and disease. Before vaccinations became popular disease was the commonest cause of death. However, in the twentieth
century, vaccinations became a trend, and humans had a way of combating infection successfully. Today, vaccinations are considered a part of life. Every new baby is given a number of vaccinations to protect him/her in the future. Even adults regularly get their immune system updated with vaccinations that might wear off or that they haven't had before. With so many different types of illness inducing pathogens it only seems right to have a wide variety of vaccinations in different forms as well. Currently there are 4 types of vaccines that are available. o Those that are inactivated - in this type of vaccination, the pathogens introduced are killed (for example the influenza vaccine), and yet the immune system recognizes them because some proteins in the virus are intact. This type of vaccination needs regular booster shots. o The attenuated type of vaccine - in this type of vaccination, the pathogens are live, albeit of weaker strength. These vaccinations have a long lasting effect and do not require booster shots. o Subunit vaccines - these involve introducing an antigen into the body instead of the virus itself. o Toxoid vaccines - This vaccination introduces the toxin produced by the virus or the bacterium into the body. Since the twentieth technology, our understanding of vaccinations has improved vastly. We now have vaccinations for almost all serious infections including diphtheria, mumps, hepatitis, chicken pox, polio etc. Vaccinations have played a pivotal role in eradicating serious diseases like small pox from all parts of the world. Everyday we are discovering new infections, and with the knowledge of vaccinations, we can rest assured that we will always have the ability to stand up and fight anything that comes our way. Childhood Vaccination
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