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masshiker t1_jdn641i wrote

Reply to comment by CrateDane in Why does tetanus vaccination lasts longer than influenza vaccination? by E-C-A

When I was younger they taught that vaccines were only for viruses but now it gets applied to bacterial treatments as well.

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iamamuttonhead t1_jdncssq wrote

A vaccination can be for anything for which you want to "prime" the immune system. Priming means exposing the immune system to something which will produce a condition where the immune system can respond more quickly when it encounters that something again. In theory, we could get vaccinated against fungi as well but given that they are evolutionary far closer to animals than are bacteria or viruses requiring the vaccine efforts to focus on specific differences (e.g. cell wall sugars in fungi). Even so, there may be problems with, for instance, creating food allergies (we eat a lot fo fungi and fungi are close to plants evolutionarily).

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h3rbi74 t1_jdofci1 wrote

There have been antifungal veterinary vaccines for a long time (specifically targeting “ringworm”) but their efficacy was debatable so they are no longer widely used in the US, but are still used in some parts of the world and for some industrially farmed animals instead of pets. I am old enough to remember the pharmaceutical reps hyping it up for cats (because it is a PAIN to treat/eliminate in an animal that does NOT want to take repeated medicated baths or even moreso the old fashioned lime-sulfur dips!) but nothing much ever came of it and it just quietly disappeared.

Scroll down for brief discussion of fungal veterinary vaccines: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7348621/

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iamamuttonhead t1_jdogsb9 wrote

The one vaccine you mentioned. This vaccine (or the versions that work) uses the approach of live attenuated fungus which may face regulatory hurdles in humans.

The live attenuated approach is being used in this not-yet-approved one:

https://www.aaha.org/publications/newstat/articles/2023-1/lessons-from-horticulture-pioneering-the-first-antifungal-vaccine/

I believe, though, that at least in the U.S. there is not a single approved anti-fungal vaccine for humans.

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h3rbi74 t1_jdqxx3q wrote

Very excited to see if the Valley Fever vaccine is successful! Especially because if it is, one can hope that vaccines against blastomycosis and histoplasmosis aren’t far behind, and that’s what I’m more likely to see where I currently live. (Also advancing science and human medicine and etc, but dogs with systemic fungal disease are so sad and challenging to treat!)

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joeri1505 t1_jdnfenh wrote

Either you were taught wrong or perhaps you misremember. Some of the first vaccinations in the late 1800's were for bacterial diseases. For example, Pasteur's Antrax vaccinations

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jawshoeaw t1_jdo7f3f wrote

It’s not the first time I’ve heard this misconception. Maybe because vaccine starts with v or something. Or because in the age of antibiotics it’s well known bacteria are easy to kill directly where as viruses are best avoided by vaccine or you must wait them out while the immune system mops them out

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masshiker t1_jdohyqm wrote

Somebody taught me that bacterial infections could not be treated with vaccines. They are entirely different life forms right? You treat them with penicillin.

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Ehldas t1_jdoq005 wrote

A vaccine is given before an infection (whether viral or bacterial), to stop it happening in the first place.

There are some rare exceptions, like rabies in some cases, where you would use a post-exposure vaccine, but for the vast majority it's a preventive measure not a curative one.

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emelrad12 t1_jdqgo5n wrote

Well rabies is really slow with incubation of months compared to days for others, so technically you are still giving it before the virus is even noticed by the immune system.

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joeri1505 t1_jdps73e wrote

A vaccine is a weakened or incapacitated version of a disease that teaches your body how to fight of a real infection. This can be both a virus or a bacteria.

Penicilin is a medicine that kills bacteria.

Vaccinations prevent sickness Penecilin (or other antibiotics) cure bacterial infections

Vaccines are not a treatment for sick people You cant prevent whats already there

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OlympusMons94 t1_jdnfac9 wrote

Pasteur made vaccines for cholera (edit: fowl/chicken cholera) and anthrax (both bacterial) in the late 1800s.

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eye_spi t1_jdnbxj6 wrote

There's a fungal vaccine in the works now, too, that is showing great promise for a condition known as valley fever. While they're focusing on dogs to start, the condition also affects humans, and the vaccine may be helpful for us, too.

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eburton555 t1_jdoemoq wrote

How young? Bacterial vaccines have been around for a while hahaha

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