gwilliam@crc.ac.uk (Gary Williams x3294) (01/11/91)
Has anyone thought of turning the problem of producing a vaccine against insect-carried diseases like malaria on its head and thought of producing a vaccine against the cells on the inside of the stylet of mosquitoes/tse-tse fly/etc. ? The intended effect is that when the target insect feeds on a vaccinated individual, the stylet quickly gets gummed up. Problems that I can see are: This doesn't actually protect the vaccinated individual from the disease organism. It only decreases the population of the target insect species. There would have to be a separate vaccine for each species of mosquito etc. There may be polymorphism within the target species for the antigen in the stylet being acted on by the vaccine. (But this is true of any vaccine). -- GARY WILLIAMS, Computing Services Section, Janet: G.Williams@UK.AC.CRC MRC-CRC & Human Genome Mapping Centre, Internet: G.Williams@CRC.AC.UK Watford Rd, HARROW, Middx, HA1 3UJ, UK EARN/Bitnet: G.Williams%CRC@UKACRL Tel 081-869 3294 Fax 081-423 1275 Usenet: ...!mcsun!ukc!mrccrc!G.Williams