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Immunity to Infections – SPI XL – 2014-10-14
• Smallpox eradication Somalia 1977
• [Livestock Cattlepox (Rinderpest)
 Widespread vaccination efforts
Good management of these diseases was possible because:
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no antigen variation
the disease is highly visible
the contagious time from exposure to appearance of symptoms is short
no animal reservoir
Next major challenges for human health:
HIV, Malaria, Mycobacteria tuberculosis
The neglected tropical infectious diseases
Viruses: Dengue, Rabies.
Protozoa: Chagas disease, Human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), Leishmaniases.
Helminth: Cysticercosis/Taeniasis, Dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease), Echinococcosis,
Foodborne trematodiases, Lymphatic filariasis, Onchocerciasis , Schistosomiasis, Soil-transmitted
helminthiases.
Bacteria: Buruli ulcer, Leprosy (Hansen disease), Trachoma, Yaws, Invasive non-typhoidal
salmonella disease.
Immunity to Infections – SPI XL – 2014-10-14
Critical need for the diversification of the research and approaches to develop
the next generation of vaccines
Better understanding of the:
• infectious pathogens themselves
• the main orchestrators of the immune response as well as the escape mechanisms
developed by the pathogen to circumvent the response
The session Immunity to Infection will cover some of these new aspects
Adam Cunningham
Bacteria Salmonella Typhimurium
Dissect T and B cell Th1 response
Andrew MacDonald
Helminth Schistosoma mans
Solve some mysteries of Th2-polarisation
Escape mechanisms:
Cerqueira-Rodrigues How Mycobacterium avium controls the thymic development of Tregs
Vasco Rodrigues How Leishmania impairs TFh development and germinal centre responses
Exploration of new tissues that contribute to the immune response:
Luzia Teixeira Adipose Tissue
New candidate for vaccination:
Pedro Melo How to protects against two pathogens (Streptoccocus and Staphylococcus) with
one protein (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase)