Maximizing Benefits of Influenza Vaccination
Beware the vaccination paradox! began J. Richard Newton, BVSc, MSc, PhD, DLSHTM, DipECVPH, FRCVS, of the Animal Health Trust in Suffolk, United Kingdom, during his presentation on influenza vaccination at the 43rd annual British Equine”P>Beware the vaccination paradox! began J. Richard Newton, BVSc, MSc, PhD, DLSHTM, DipECVPH, FRCVS, of the Animal Health Trust in Suffolk, United Kingdom, during his presentation on influenza vaccination at the 43rd annual British Equ”>Beware the vaccination paradox! began J. Richard Newton, BVSc, MSc, PhD, DLSHTM, DipECVPH, FRCVS, of the Animal Health Trust in Suffolk, United Kingdom, during his presentation on influenza vaccination at the 43rd annual British E”Beware the vaccination paradox! began J. Richard Newton, BVSc, MSc, PhD, DLSHTM, DipECVPH, FRCVS, of the Animal Health Trust in Suffolk, United Kingdom, during his presentation on influenza vaccination at the 43rd annual British “Beware the vaccination paradox! began J. Richard Newton, BVSc, MSc, PhD, DLSHTM, DipECVPH, FRCVS, of the Animal Health Trust in Suffolk, United Kingdom, during his presentation on influenza vaccination at the 43rd annual British “eware the vaccination paradox! began J. Richard Newton, BVSc, MSc, PhD, DLSHTM, DipECVPH, FRCVS, of the Animal Health Trust in Suffolk, United Kingdom, during his presentation on influenza vaccinat”ware the vaccination paradox! began J. Richard Newton, BVSc, MSc, PhD, DLSHTM, DipECVPH, FRCVS, of the Animal Health Trust in Suffolk, United Kingdom, during his pres”are the vaccination paradox! began J. Richard Newton, BVSc, MSc, PhD, DLSHTM, DipECVPH, FRCVS, of the Animal Health Trust in Suffolk, Un”re the vaccination paradox! began J. Richard Newton, BVSc, MSc, PhD, DLSHTM, DipECVPH, FRCVS, of the Animal”e the vaccination paradox! began J. Richard Newton, BVSc, MSc, PhD, DLSHTM, Dip” the vaccination paradox! began J. Richard Newton, B”the vaccination paradox! b”he
“Beware the vaccination paradox!” began J. Richard Newton, BVSc, MSc, PhD, DLSHTM, DipECVPH, FRCVS, of the Animal Health Trust in Suffolk, United Kingdom, during his presentation on influenza vaccination at the 43rd annual British Equine Veterinary Association Congress, held Sept. 15-18 in Birmingham.
He described the vaccination paradox as follows:
• A disease is highly prevalent.
• People vaccinate against it.
• The disease incidence is notably reduced.
• People stop vaccinating because it doesn’t appear to be a common threat.
• The number of susceptible individuals increases.
• The disease reappears!
As an example of this process, Newton recounted events of late 2003, in which there was a large outbreak of equine influenza in South Africa not long after the South African Jockey Club made flu vaccinations optional instead of mandatory as they had been. He quoted a news report from that time stating that more than 1,000 horses were affected with the flu, one was dead, and racing was cancelled in several areas.
Most outbreaks occur in non-vaccinated animals, he said, although vaccine ‘breakdown’ does occur periodically, mostly in young Thoroughbreds (usually because of their frequent exposure to other horses, but also possibly through travel and exercise stress). This ‘breakdown’ in vaccination protection (i.e. appearance of infection and clinical signs in properly vaccinated animals) happens when the virus that causes the disease mutates, thereby becoming less susceptible to the immune response produced by vaccines containing older strains of virus. In other words, the viruses in the vaccine and those that a horse encounters in the field are sufficiently different that the vaccine is no longer effective in conferring complete protection
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