Vaccination

Vaccination is a method of preventing somebody from catching a disease. The method involves injecting a person with a dead form of an infection. (Technicaly this is injection of dead pathogens which can't reproduce, this means that should live pathogens be introduced they will be unable to live, therefore creating immunity to the infection). Vaccination is different to innoculation. Innoculation involves injection of live pathogens in a weakened state. This also results in immunisation. The first use of these techniques in the UK were in relation to Smallpox. Edward jenner learnt of Mary Montague Wortley's use of innoculation for cowpox, which she had learn in Turey. He used these principles to innoculate against Smalpox by injection of a weakened form of Cowpox.

The fight against infectious disease: pages within this unit

What is an Infectious Disease? A Glossary of Infectious Diseases, Edward Jenner, Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch, Vaccination, The Development of Drugs, Paul Ehrlich, Gerhard Domagk, Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, The importance of Penicillin, Factors affecting the development of drugs and treatments.

Activities within the Unit

Recommended textbooks and revision guides