Historical development and new perspectives of vaccines against bacteria and parasites: review

Abstract

Vaccines are preparations of antigens, often combined with adjuvants, administered to individuals to induce protective immunity against infection or disease. Historically, the concern for protection against infectious and parasitic agents comes after one’s own knowledge of the existence of microorganisms that cause diseases in humans and other animals. In 1798, the English physician Edward Jenner performed the first reported empirical test of immunization injecting pustule material of a cow carrying the cowpox in an eight-year-old boy, who became protected against smallpox. Since then, advances in the knowledge about the biology of infectious and parasitic agents associated with immune system functioning associated to the increasing information about health and disease relationship and laboratory molecular techniques, has promoted a new level in the immunoprophylaxis of people and animals. The formulations currently available, both commercially and experimentally, cover a variety of possibilities ranging from the use of micro-organisms, such as Jenner did by the use of attenuated organisms, killed, genetically engineered proteins and protein subunits. Given the importance of vaccines in the public health context, the objective of this review is to describe the history and new directions in the field of vaccination as a major factor in health promotion and disease prevention focusing on bacterial and parasitic diseases of humans and other animals.