Hock immunization: A humane alternative to mouse footpad injections

The mouse footpad model.

It may be hard, now that Mycobacterium leprae is just another entry in the large catalogue of pathogens whose DNA sequence is known and leprosy is just another treatable bacterial disease, to understand the excitement generated by the mouse footpad model when it was introduced. It is, after all, not obviously exciting: 10,000 bacilli are injected into the hind footpad of a normal mouse. This is...

Mucosal immunization: a realistic alternative.

Most infections occur at or through mucosal surfaces. Despite this knowledge, current vaccination practices rely predominantly on parenteral administration with only a few vaccines being registered for administion by the mucosal route. Whilst mucosal immunization brings many advantages, the lack of reliable delivery systems has been a major drawback to date. With the recent advances in delivery...

Alleviation of pain associated with immunization injections.

Typically any new vaccine (or for that matter any new drug) has to undergo phase 1 (early safety and dosing study), phase 2 (safety, dosing and immunogenicity study) and phase 3 (field efficacy and further safety study) trials before being licensed(2). In case one brand of the concerned vaccine with satisfactory efficacy data is already licensed, and serological correlates of protection for the...

Taking a 'PASS' on alternative immunization schedules.

A return to humane medicine: Osler's legacy.

Sir William Osler is celebrated today not only for his contributions to the advancement of medical education, but also for the humanism he brought to the practice of medicine. He was a doctor whose bedside skills and manners were emulated, and can legitimately be called an infectious diseases specialist. Nonetheless, he was also a humanist in the broader sense of the term, a student of human af...