There is no cure for Polio or smallpox- only vaccines to prevent getting the disease, and then only because neither virus mutates the way the influenza or HIV does.

The reason they offer flu shots every year isn’t because they wear off in 12 months, but because they don’t know which strain is going to spread, with different strains requiring different vaccines. It usually starts in Asian countries, and based on what strain hits there they vaccinate accordingly.

The same problem presents itself for developing an HIV vaccine- you vaccinate against one strain, and another mutation pops up rendering it useless.

A viral disease like rabies can be cured by vaccinating between the time of exposure and the time symptoms start, but like all viral diseases once you got it, you got it. There is no actual cure for any of them.

Hollowpoint on January 14, 2008 at 3:51 PM

Pretty decent synopsis, although rabies isn’t cured by vaccinating immediately post-exposure,..infection is prevented, and depending on location and severity of exposure, plus rabies vaccination history, antisera may also be used at the same time. Infection and disease manifestation are two different things. One other thing, duration of immunity(DOI) for human vaccines is not as precise as our comfort zones would like it to be, and subject to that old bell shaped curve. True protection is measured against pathogen challenge, which is obviously not done in humans in a controlled setting, so DOI is usually estimated based on antibody titers.

a capella on January 14, 2008 at 5:24 PM