Vaccinations provide an effective way to prevent fatal diseases or reduce their symptoms. This book highlights four infectious diseases: polio, tetanus, measles, and mumps. These four diseases are very harmful to human health and are difficult to treat after the infection because they are caused by a toxin or pathogenic virus. In all four cases, the disease exhibits different modes of transmission and progression of symptoms, which require unique treatment regimens. However, all cases can be prevented by vaccinations administered prior to infection.
This book summarizes the symptoms and disease progression of all the four diseases and provides information about the toxin or virus that causes each disease. The ability to harness our immune system through vaccination is discussed in the context of disease prevention. Minor and infrequent risks associated with vaccination are also described, but the very dangerous misconception that vaccines cause autism or other major illnesses is strongly refuted.
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Mary E. Miller is professor and chair of the department of biology at Rhodes College, Tennessee, where she teaches introductory biology, genetics, molecular biology, microbiology, and topical seminars on cancer. She has an active research program where she studies cell division and key regulators of the cell division cycle and has been awarded the Rhodes College Clarence Day Award for Outstanding Research or Creative Activity. She received her Ph D in microbiology from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and studied as a postdoctoral fellow at the Rockefeller University, New York. She is a strong advocate of implementing effective integration of research in teaching environments and strives to make strong intellectual scientific content available to the informed public.