Vaccine strategy when the smallpox model fails: 1. immune cognition, Malaria and the Fulani

We begin to examine the implications of IR Cohen’s work on immune cognition [1-3] for vaccine strategies when simple elicitation of sterilizing immunity fails, as is the case for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. Cohen’s approach takes on a special importance in the context of recent work by Nisbett et al. [4] showing clearly that central nervous system (CNS) cognition is not universal, but rather differs fundamentally for populations having different cultural systems. A growing body of evolutionary anthropology indeed suggests that such effects are inevitable, since culture is as much a part of human biology ‘as the enamel on our teeth’. Thus a successful vaccine strategy for use when the smallpox model fails must address a condensation of sociocultural and immune cognition, in the same sense that neuroimmunology and immunogenetics ∗Address correspondence to Rodrick Wallace, PISCS Inc., 549 W 123 St., Suite 16F, New York, NY, 10027. Telephone (212) 865-4766, email [email protected].