A NEW APPROACH TO BACTERIAL VACCINES

Immunizing antigens against only 10 bacterial diseases-cholera, diphtheria, paratyphoid, pertussis, plague, scarlet fever, staphylococcal disease, tetanus, tuberculosis and typhoid-have been licensed for sale in Canada and the United States. Convincing evidence of efficacy is available for only four of these-diphtheria and tetanus toxoids, and pertussis and typhoid vaccines.The principles which determine the efficacy of different immunizing antigens are not always the same. Toxoids, for example, stimulate the formation of antitoxin-producing mechanisms which can neutralize toxins produced by invading organisms, thereby rendering them harmless. Conversely, vaccines stimulate the formation of antibacterial mechanisms which stop the growth of organisms before they can produce disease.Use of enzyme-lysed vaccines for prevention of staphylococcal disease represents a new approach in vaccine research. Animal tests have shown lysed vaccines to be 10 to 100 times less toxic, and about eight times more effective, than whole bacterial vaccines. Studies with lysed vaccines for other diseases are now in progress.