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Biological Products And Disease Prevention
By
Susan L. Valentino, Ph.D.
.................................................................................................
HISTORY
From the earliest days of medical knowledge, all information pertaining to
drugs and their use in Western culture was designated "materia medica"
(literally, medical matter). The most famous commentary on drugs, was written by
Dioscorides in the first century AD, and covered more than 600 plant drugs and a
number of animal and mineral products.
Slowly, as the amount of knowledge increased, two disciplines emerged. By the
early 19th century pharmacology (the actions of drugs) and pharmacognosy (all
aspects of drugs with less emphasis on actions) had been established as the
first medical fields.
Later in
the 19th century, chemists began to synthesize large numbers of organic
compounds, some of which had useful therapeutic qualities. Because these
products were synthetic, they fell under the discipline of medical chemistry.
Thus, there came to be three disciplines devoted to drugs: pharmacology (drug
actions), pharmacognosy (biological materials intended for therapeutic use) and
medical chemistry (the science of synthetic drugs intended for therapeutic use).
In the
mid-twentieth century, pharmacognosy and medical chemistry began to merge. At
this point, in spite of the continued utilization of a large number of drugs
from biological sources, both teaching and research efforts concentrated on
synthetic drugs.
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Biotechnology is the use of biological materials for the production of
useful products. This includes but is not limited to: wine, beer, cheese making,
and fermentations that produce antibiotics.
The Immune System is the Only Line of Defense
It is a simple truth that all disease results from some sort of immune system
failure.
IMMUNOMODULATORS
Immunomodulators, also known as biological response modifiers (BRM's) are
substances that modify the immune response. The BRM's produced in the body
include: interleukins, interferons, colony-stimulating factors.
There is evidence that biological products from food and other sources enhance
the action of BRM's produced by the immune system. These compounds fight cancer,
arthritis, cholesterol imbalance, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, high blood
pressure, glaucoma, stroke, hepatitis, epilepsy, Chron's disease, multiple
sclerosis and infectious disease.
INFECTIOUS DISEASE
Vaccines
Vaccines are used to stimulate the production of antibodies, they can be
directed against viruses or bacteria. There are several different types of
vaccines: some are the actual infectious organism weakened, some are the whole
organism killed, some are organisms related to the infectious one but not
themselves infectious, some are just parts of the infectious organism, some are
genetically engineered infectious organisms, and some are completely synthetic.
Viral Vaccines
Most viral vaccines contain living or weakened virus. Some of these include:
mumps, rubella, measles, hepatitis, small pox, yellow fever, rabies, flu, and
polio.
Bacterial Vaccines
Most bacterial vaccines contain weakened or killed bacteria. Some of these
include: typhoid, cholera, plague, pertussis, tuberculosis, bacterial
meningitis, pneumonia, and diptheria.
Anthrax
Anthrax is produced by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis. A tough protective
coat allows the bacteria to survive for decades as spores. It is an infectious
bacterial disease spread by contact with infected animals, handling infected
products, eating infected meat, or breathing weapon-dispersed anthrax spores.
The Anthrax vaccine, like all vaccines helps the immune system prevent the
Anthrax bacteria (as spores) from growing, getting a foothold and producing
toxins that cause illness and death.
Anthrax is dangerous because, it is:
- Highly
lethal
- One of
the easiest biological agents to manufacture
-
Relatively easy to develop as a weapon
- Easily
spread in the air over a large area
- Easily
stored and dangerous for a long period
Three
types of Anthrax infection:
-
Cutaneous Anthrax - primarily involving the skin,caused by contact with
infected animals or contaminated animal products.
-
Gastrointestinal Anthrax - caused by eating of contaminated meat.
-
Inhalation Anthrax - caused by inhaling anthrax spores
**MOST DEADLY - BIGGEST THREAT**
Incubation period - 1 to 6 days between exposure and symptoms.
Symptoms of inhalation anthrax include:
Viral-like aches & pains, fever, malaise, fatigue, cough and mild chest
discomfort followed by severe difficulty breathing
Diagnosed by:
-
Isolating the bacteria from blood, other body fluids or skin lesions
- Blood
culture
-
Measuring specific antibodies late in the course of the disease
Treatment:
Treatment is usually not effective after symptoms are present.
High dose antibiotic treatment after symptoms appear can lower the death rate
from 99% to about 80%.
What these bacteria do:
The disease occurs when spores enter lungs, migrate to the lymph nodes,
change to the bacterial form, multiply, and produce toxins.
These toxins cause bleeding and destruction of structures in the middle of the
chest (medical term: hemorrhagic necrotizin mediastinitis).
Immune
Involvement:
The Anthrax vaccine helps the immune system, in a specific way, prevent the
Anthrax bacteria (as spores) from growing, getting a foothold and producing
toxins that cause illness and death. However, it is the immune system not the
vaccine that fights the infection. Therefore, it is reasonable to think that
anything that enhances immune function in an appropriate manner would help ward
off disease. There have always been people throughout history, "immune" to
deadly disease (without vaccination), more responsive to immunization, or
completely non-responsive to immunization, this is the result of differences in
immune status of individuals.
Data Sources:
Chin J, ed.
Control of Communicable Diseases Manual, 17th ed. Washington, DC: American
Public Health Association 2000
Brachman PS, Friedlander AM. Anthrax. In: Plotkin SA, Orenstein WA, ed.
Vaccines, 3rd ed. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1999 (not available online)
Inglesby TV, Henderson DA, Bartlett JG, Ascher MS, Eitzen E, Friedlander AM,
Hauer J, McDade J, Osterholm MT, O'Toole T, Parker G, Perl TM, PK, Tonat K,
Working Group on Civilian Biodefense. Anthrax as a biological weapon: Medical
and public health management. Journal of the American Medical Association
1999;281:1735-45
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