Subject(s)
Immunization Programs/trends , Occupational Diseases/prevention & control , Q Fever/prevention & control , Rickettsial Vaccines/therapeutic use , Animals , Humans , Immunization Programs/economics , Immunization Programs/legislation & jurisprudence , Occupational Diseases/economics , Occupational Diseases/epidemiology , Occupational Diseases/immunology , Q Fever/economics , Q Fever/epidemiology , Q Fever/immunology , Rickettsial Vaccines/economics , Rickettsial Vaccines/immunology , South Australia/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Morbidity and mortality caused by rickettsioses have had a major influence on military activities and public health for >2000 years. The threat posed by the rickettsioses is reviewed, focusing on the impact and epidemiology of those that have adversely influenced wartime operations and the current challenges posed by these diseases. With their uneven worldwide distribution, the discovery of drug-refractory strains of Orientia tsutsugamushi, the increased threat of their use in acts of bioterrorism, frequent deployment of troops to regions of endemicity, and exposures due to increased humanitarian missions, these diseases continue to be a threat to military personnel in the field. Effective strategies to reduce the impact of these diseases include development of effective vaccines, enhanced surveillance, and development of new safe, effective, and odorless repellants. The continuation of a proven, highly productive military infectious disease research program is essential for providing solutions to these daunting tasks.
Subject(s)
International Agencies , Military Medicine/trends , Public Health , Rickettsia Infections/epidemiology , Animals , Bioterrorism/trends , Drug Resistance, Bacterial , Humans , Orientia tsutsugamushi/immunology , Orientia tsutsugamushi/isolation & purification , Orientia tsutsugamushi/metabolism , Rickettsia/immunology , Rickettsia Infections/prevention & control , Rickettsial Vaccines/therapeutic useSubject(s)
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever/epidemiology , Adolescent , Adult , Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , History, 20th Century , Humans , Male , Rickettsial Vaccines/therapeutic use , Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever/mortality , Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever/prevention & control , United StatesABSTRACT
Currently available Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) vaccines are relatively ineffective in preventing infections in humans and contain considerable amounts of contaminating egg protein. A new formalin-inactivated vaccine was prepared by sucrose density gradient centrifugation of the Sheila Smith strain of Rickettsia rickettsii grown in chick embryo cell tissue culture. The new product has greater protective immunogenicity in rheusus monkeys and guinea pigs than commercial vaccines. Six volunteers without immunologic evidence of prior exposure to RMSF received from one to three inoculations of the vaccine diluted 1:10, and there were two benign local reactions. Titers of antibody (determined by microagglutination and indirect fluorescence techniques) increased in all recipients as did lymphocyte tranformation responses to specific rickettsial antigen. Ten volunteers were immunized twice with vaccine diluted 1:3; there were no local reactions, and immunologic responses were similar to those in the six volunteers in the first group. The proper dosage and immunization schedule for the vaccine must be determined in further studies.
Subject(s)
Immunotherapy , Rickettsial Vaccines/therapeutic use , Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever/prevention & control , Agglutinins , Culture Techniques , Erythema/etiology , Evaluation Studies as Topic , Fluorescent Antibody Technique , Humans , Immunization , Lymphocyte ActivationABSTRACT
Nine patients with laboratory-acquired Rocky Mountain spotted fever were seen during the period 1971 to 1976. Investigation of each case revealed either definite or probable exposure to an aerosol containing infectious rickettsiae; in no case was there evidence of parenteral exposure either by accidental self-inoculation or by tick bite. These illnesses are believed to represent infection acquired via the respiratory route. This report emphasizes the aerosol hazard of Rickettsia rickettsii in the laboratory and discusses the possibility of respiratory transmission of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in nature. The illness occurred only in personnel who had received either no vaccination or the primary series of the commercial (Lederie) vaccine against this infection. Other personnel who had received the primary series with multiple booster vaccinations demonstrated increased immunity as measured by humoral antibody titers and rickettsial antigen-induced lymphocyte transformation; no cases of clinical disease developed in these multiply-vaccinated personnel.