Ring vaccination

Ring vaccination hinders the spread of a disease by vaccinating only those who are most likely to be infected.[1]

Medical use

A vaccination

When someone falls ill, adults they might have infected are vaccinated. Depending on how easily the disease spreads, contacts who could have been infected might include family, neighbours, and friends. Several layers of contacts (the contacts, the contacts' contacts, the contact's contacts' contacts, etc.) may be vaccinated. Some vaccines will protect even if they are given just after infection, but even if the vaccine does not, ring vaccination can prevent the virus from being transmitted again, to the contacts' contacts.

Advantages

When responding to a possible outbreak, health officials should consider which is best, ring vaccination or mass vaccination. In some outbreaks, it might be better to only vaccinate those directly exposed; variable factors (such as demographics and the vaccine that is available) can make one method or the other safer, with fewer people experiencing side-effects when the same number are protected from the disease.[2]

History

Ring vaccination was used in the eradication of smallpox.,[3][4] and was used in the ebola epidemic in West Africa.[5][6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "ring vaccination". Retrieved 2015-07-31.
  2. ↑ Kretzschmar, Mirjam; Wallinga, Jacco; Teunis, Peter; Xing, Shuqin; Mikolajczyk, Rafael (2006-08-01). "Frequency of Adverse Events after Vaccination with Different Vaccinia Strains". PLoS Medicine. 3 (8): e272. ISSN 1549-1277. PMC 1551910 Freely accessible. PMID 16933957. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0030272.
  3. ↑ Strassburg, M. A. (1982). "The global eradication of smallpox". American journal of infection control. 10 (2): 53–9. PMID 7044193. doi:10.1016/0196-6553(82)90003-7.
  4. ↑ "World on the verge of an effective Ebola vaccine". World Health Organization. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  5. ↑ James Gallagher (31 July 2015). "Ebola vaccine is 'potential game-changer'". BBC News Health. UK: BBC. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  6. ↑ Henao-Restrepo, Ana Maria; et al. (31 July 2015). "Efficacy and effectiveness of an rVSV-vectored vaccine expressing Ebola surface glycoprotein: interim results from the Guinea ring vaccination cluster-randomised tria" (PDF). The Lancet. 386: 857–866. PMID 26248676. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)61117-5. Retrieved 31 July 2015.

Further reading

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