My recent ongoing bout of upper respiratory illness (we're in the whee!
My recent ongoing bout of upper respiratory illness (we're in the whee! lightheaded, hey! I think we're getting some oxygen in through part of my nose! loopy phase) prompted wondering about why we don't have vaccines for any of the major circulating strains of rhino or adeno or other URI causing viruses. Guess what? There is an adenovirus vaccine. Sort of.
Specifically, the military (surprise) has a vaccine against two specific strains of adenovirus that most frequently cause illness in recruits stuffed in boot camp barracks. Sort of.
See, most viral vaccines we get are either killed/inactivated, or live/attenuated. The killed ones are, well, dead. Attenuated ones have been grown until they can't reproduce inside a human, but they can still trigger your immune system to remember them. There's a few viruses that we get a different type of vaccine for (flu, Hep B), and they are not full on live virus, but mostly it's the above. Sooooo ...
The adenovirus vaccine is two tablets that you swallow. One is for type 4, one is for type 7. Per the product insert, it is not attenuated. They bold the "not" in the insert. It's just a bunch of live human infecting adenovirus that they culture in a lab, dry out, press into a tablet, and feed you. Nom nom nom. Unlikely to improve with gelatin or fish sauce. Besides, the tablets already have msg, so umami's covered.
Somehow, this does not make me feel awesome about the future possibilities for anti-URI vaccines. Or the present, really. #hack_cough
Specifically, the military (surprise) has a vaccine against two specific strains of adenovirus that most frequently cause illness in recruits stuffed in boot camp barracks. Sort of.
See, most viral vaccines we get are either killed/inactivated, or live/attenuated. The killed ones are, well, dead. Attenuated ones have been grown until they can't reproduce inside a human, but they can still trigger your immune system to remember them. There's a few viruses that we get a different type of vaccine for (flu, Hep B), and they are not full on live virus, but mostly it's the above. Sooooo ...
The adenovirus vaccine is two tablets that you swallow. One is for type 4, one is for type 7. Per the product insert, it is not attenuated. They bold the "not" in the insert. It's just a bunch of live human infecting adenovirus that they culture in a lab, dry out, press into a tablet, and feed you. Nom nom nom. Unlikely to improve with gelatin or fish sauce. Besides, the tablets already have msg, so umami's covered.
Somehow, this does not make me feel awesome about the future possibilities for anti-URI vaccines. Or the present, really. #hack_cough
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