Bacterial Vaccines

By: Sanjeet Guttula & Sampreet Guttula

 What is Bacterial Vaccines?
 Bacterial vaccines contain killed or attenuated bacteria that activate the
immune system. Antibodies are built against that particular bacteria, and
prevents bacterial infection later.
 Principles of Bacterial Vaccines

Bacterial diseases can be prevented by using

immunizations that induce either active
or passive immunity.

Passive–active immunity involves giving both immune

globulins to provide immediate protection and a vaccine to
provide long-term protection.
 Active Immunity
Bacterial vaccines are composed of capsular polysaccharides, inactivated protein
exotoxins (toxoids), killed bacteria, or live, attenuated bacteria.

Capsular Polysaccharide Vaccines

• Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine

• Neisseria meningitides vaccine
• Haemophilus influenza vaccine
• One of the vaccines against typhoid fever
contains the capsular polysaccharide of
Salmonella typhi.
Toxoid Vaccine
• Corynebacterium diphtheria vaccine
-> Contains the toxoid (formaldehyde treated exotoxin). Immunization
against diphtheria is indicated for every child and is given in three doses at 2, 4,
and 6 months of age, with boosters given 1 year later and at intervals thereafter.

• Clostridium tetani vaccine

-> Contains tetanus toxoid and is given to everyone both early in life
and later as boosters for protection against tetanus.

• Bordetella pertussis vaccine

-> contains pertussis toxoid but includes other proteins as well. It
is, therefore, described in the next section.
 Purified Protein Vaccines

• B. pertussis vaccines:
-> an acellular vaccine containing purified proteins and a vaccine containing whole
killed bacteria.

• Bacillus anthracis vaccine

-> contains “protective antigen” purified from the organism. It is given to
persons whose occupations place them at risk of exposure to the organism.
 Killed Bacterial Vaccines
• Vibrio cholera vaccine
-> contains killed organisms and is given to persons traveling to areas where cholera
is endemic.

• Yersinia pastis vaccine

-> contains killed organisms and is indicated for persons at high risk for contracting
plague.

• • The vaccine against Q fever

The vaccine against typhus contains
killed Rickettsia rickettsia organisms
and is used primarily to immunize
members of the armed forces.
contains killed Coxiella Brunetti
organisms and is used to
immunize those who are at high
risk for being exposed to animals
infected with the organism.
 Passive immunity
Antitoxins (immune globulins) can be used for either the
treatment or prevention of certain bacterial diseases. The
following preparations are available:

1. Tetanus antitoxin
2. Botulinum antitoxin
3. Diphtheria antitoxin
 Tetanus antitoxin:
• It is used in the treatment of tetanus and in its prevention (prophylaxis).
• In treatment, because the goal is to neutralize any unbound toxin to prevent the disease from getting worse, the
antitoxin should be given promptly.
• In prevention, the antitoxin is given to inadequately immunized persons with contaminated (“dirty”) wounds.
• The antitoxin is made in humans to avoid hypersensitivity reactions. In addition to the antitoxin, these people
should receive tetanus toxoid.
• This is an example of passive–active immunity. The toxoid and the antitoxin should be given at different sites in
the body to prevent the antitoxin from neutralizing the toxoid.

Botulinum antitoxin:
• It is used in the treatment of botulism. Because the antitoxin can neutralize unbound toxin to prevent the disease
from progressing, it should be given promptly.
• It contains antibodies against botulinum toxins A, B, and E, the most commonly occurring types.
• The antitoxin is made in horses, so hypersensitivity may be a problem for a few.

Diphtheria antitoxin:
• It is used in the treatment of diphtheria. The antitoxin can neutralize unbound toxin to prevent the disease from
progressing; therefore, the antitoxin should be given promptly.
• This antitoxin is also made in horses, so hypersensitivity may be a problem.
 Inactivated vaccines
● Inactivated vaccines use a large amount of antigen to
produce a protective antibody response but without the risk
of infection by the agent.
● Inactivated vaccines can be produced by chemicals (e.g.,
formalin), irradiation, or heat inactivation of bacteria,
bacterial toxins, or viruses, or by purification or synthesis
of the components or subunits of the infectious agents.
Inactivated vaccines usually generate antibody (TH2
responses) rather than cell-mediated immune responses.
● These vaccines are usually administered with an adjuvant
that boosts their immunogenicity by enhancing uptake by
or stimulating dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages.
 Disadvantages of Inactivated vaccines

Inactivated vaccines are generally safe except in people who have allergic reactions to
vaccine components.

The disadvantages of inactivated vaccines are:

 Immunity is not usually lifelong

 Immunity may be only humoral (TH2) and not cell mediated
 The vaccine does not elicit a local IgA (Immunoglobulin A) response
 Booster shots are required
 Larger doses must be used
 Types of Inactivated Bacterial vaccines
There are three major
types of inactivated
bacterial vaccines:
 Toxoid (inactivated
toxins)
 Inactivated (killed)
bacteria
 Surface components
of the bacteria such as
capsule or protein
subunits
Live vaccines
• Live vaccines are prepared with microbes limited in their
ability to cause disease (e.g., avirulent or attenuated
microbes).
• Live vaccines are especially useful for protection against
infections caused by enveloped viruses, which require T-
cell immune responses for resolution of the infection.
• Immunization with a live vaccine resembles the natural
infection in that the immune response progresses through
the natural innate and antigen-specific immune responses
so that humoral, cellular, and memory immune responses
are developed.
• Immunity is generally long lived and, depending on the
route of administration, can mimic the normal immune
response to the infecting agent.
 Live Bacterial Vaccines
Live bacterial vaccines include:
 The orally administered live,
attenuated S. typhi strain (Ty2la)
vaccine for typhoid.
 The bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)
vaccine for tuberculosis, which
consists of an
 attenuated strain of Mycobacterium
bovis
 An attenuated tularemia vaccine.
Disadvantages of Live vaccines
The disadvantages of Live vaccines are:

 The vaccine virus may still be dangerous for

immunosuppressed people or pregnant women,
who do not have the immunologic resources to
resolve even a weakened virus infection.
 The vaccine may revert to a virulent viral form.
 The viability of the vaccine must be maintained
 Future directions for Vaccination
 Molecular biology techniques are being used to develop new vaccines. New live vaccines
can be created by genetic engineering mutations that inactivate or delete a virulence gene
instead of through random attenuation of the virus by passage through tissue culture.

 Genes from infectious agents that cannot be properly attenuated can be inserted into safe
viruses (e.g., vaccinia, canary pox, attenuated adenovirus) to form hybrid virus vaccines.
This approach holds the promise of allowing the development of a polyvalent vaccine to
many agents in a single, safe, inexpensive, and relatively stable vector.

 Genetically engineered subunit vaccines are being developed through cloning of genes that
encode immunogenic proteins into bacterial and eukaryotic vectors.

 Development of DNA vaccines offer great potential for immunization against infectious
agents and for tumour immunotherapy that require T-cell responses.
Thank You For
Listening!