Biological weapons: Anthrax vaccines: Pasteur to the present

Anthrax has been a major cause of death in grazing animals and an occasional cause of death in humans for thousands of years. Since the late 1800s there has been an exceptional international history of anthrax vaccine development. Due to animal vaccinations, the rate of infection has dropped dramati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS 2006-10, Vol.63 (19-20), p.2237-2248
Main Authors: Scorpio, A., Blank, T. E., Day, W. A., Chabot, D. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aluminum
Anthrax
Biological & chemical weapons
Multi-author Review
Vaccines
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Anthrax has been a major cause of death in grazing animals and an occasional cause of death in humans for thousands of years. Since the late 1800s there has been an exceptional international history of anthrax vaccine development. Due to animal vaccinations, the rate of infection has dropped dramatically. Anthrax vaccines have progressed from uncharacterized whole-cell vaccines in 1881, to pXO2-negative spores in the 1930s, to culture filtrates absorbed to aluminum hydroxide in 1970, and likely to recombinant protective antigen in the near future. Each of these refinements has increased safety without significant loss of efficacy. The threat of genetically engineered, antibiotic and vaccine resistant strains of Bacillus anthracis is fueling hypothesis-driven research and global techniques - including genomics, proteomics and transposon site hybridization - to facilitate the discovery of novel vaccine targets. This review highlights historical achievements and new developments in anthrax vaccine research.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:1420-682X
1420-9071
DOI:10.1007/s00018-006-6312-3