Types of Vaccines

Some vaccines contain living infectious agents ; included in this group are those used against yellow fever and measles, as well as the Sabin oral polio vaccine.

These living agents have been weakened in the laboratory but still provoke the formation of specific antibodies.

Other vaccine contain killed infectious agents; included in this group are the whooping cough and Salk polio vaccines. 

The killed microbes will not produce the disease, but they will stimulate production of specific antibodies against the same organism, thereby protecting the body from future infection.

Along similar lines, acquired immunity can be induced against certain microbial toxins that produce disease. Diphtheria and tetanus produce disease through their toxins.

Modified toxins, called toxoids, which are no longer poisonous, are used to induce the production of antibodies that will inactivate the poisons if the invading organism strikes.

Gonorrhea

Gonorrhea is caused by gonococcal bacteria. It usually starts in the lower urinary and genital areas in both men and women.

If it`s not treated, it can spread upward in the genital tract and cause sterility. It can also enter the bloodstream and cause severe arthritis and endocarditis (an inflammation of the heart).

Thus it`s potentially very serious. Happily, however, it`s easily treated if it`s caught early, through antibiotics such as penicillin.

If gonorrhea in a woman continues entreated, the symptoms may diminish. But the disease will continue unabated : The whole pelvis may eventually become inflamed. (This syndrome is known as pelvic inflammatory disease, or PID). Even after this inflammation dies down, chronic difficulties may continue, including extensive damage to the reproductive tract.

If a man does not receive prompt treatment, the infection spreads to the prostate gland and testicles. Here it can cause sufficient damage to produce sterility. In time, the urethra can become narrowed, making it difficult for a man to urinate. If the infection is severe, men can also suffer arthritis as well as heart damage.