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Title:

Vaccines, Immunity, Whooping Cough, and Mumps

Authors:

Amesh A. Adalja

Date posted:

March 10, 2011

Publication type:

Article

Publication:

Biosecur Bioterror 2011;9(1):9-11

Publisher:

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

DOI:

DOI: 10.1089/bsp.2011.0212

Availability:

Open access

See also:

Article available on publisher’s site: HTML • PDF

Introduction:

Vaccinations protect people against a variety of diseases, but vaccination is not always a panacea, because its effects are not permanent. Over time, the antibodies that are produced by a vaccine—and that protect against disease—may decrease in number and may fall below the threshold needed to protect against infection. Recent outbreaks of whooping cough and mumps are examples in which waning immunity from earlier vaccinations coupled with falling vaccination rates in the population have produced conditions that foster the spread of disease.