Book Description

A definitive and readable reference guide to the world of vaccines! The Vaccine Book provides concrete information on the current and future world of vaccines. It reveals the scientific opportunities and potential impact of vaccines, including economic and ethical challenges, problems encountered when producing vaccines, how clinical vaccine trials are designed, and how to introduce vaccines into widespread use. Although vaccines are now available for many diseases, there are still challenges ahead for major diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The Vaccine Book is designed to increase the understanding of vaccines for students, researchers, public health officials, and all others working to address such challenges. Topics unique to this book: * Ethics * Economics * Diseases that could be prevented * Clinical trial designs * Ideas about the future of vaccines * Challenges facing research scientists in the vaccine area * Burden of vaccine-preventable illness and the impact of vaccines * Scientific obstacles to be overcome by existing and new vaccines * Basic mechanisms of host immunity and pathogen interaction with host tissues * New approaches to future vaccines against challenging diseases * Real and perceived safety issues which dominate vaccine development and vaccination policies * Microbial pathogenesis as a basis for vaccine design * Planning vaccine trials * Introducing new vaccines into the healthcare system * Future challenges for vaccines and immunizations