Live Attenuated Vaccine Flashcards, test questions and answers

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What is Live Attenuated Vaccine?

Live attenuated vaccines are a type of vaccine that uses a weakened version of the virus or bacteria in order to stimulate an immune response and protect from future infection. Live attenuated vaccines have been used for centuries to protect against infectious diseases such as smallpox, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, rotavirus and many more. Vaccines containing live attenuated viruses are usually given by injection or nasal spray.Live attenuated vaccines can be made by altering the natural virus through various methods such as serial passage (growing the virus in tissue culture) or genetic engineering (modifying its genetic material). This process results in a weakened form of the virus that is still able to cause an immune response but not cause severe illness. The altered form of the virus is referred to as an attenuated strain because it has lost its ability to cause severe illness. Once injected into the body, these weakened forms of viruses trigger an immune response which helps protect against further infection with the wild-type version of the viruses. The use of live attenuated vaccines has been proven effective at preventing infectious diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella among others with very few side effects reported from their use. They are also relatively inexpensive compared to other forms of immunization and do not require multiple doses for protection like some other types do. In addition, since they contain a weakened form of the actual disease-causing agent they can provide long lasting protection due to ˜herd immunity’ which helps protect those who cannot receive vaccinations due to health reasons or personal choice. Overall, live attenuated vaccines are an effective way of protecting against infectious diseases while also being cost effective and causing minimal side effects compared to other types of immunizations available today.