Passage 8 Vaccination is a term coined by Edward Jenner for the ___131___ of administering live, albeit weakened, microbes to patients, with the intent of conferring immunity against a targeted form of a related ___132___ agent. Vaccination (Latin: vacca—cow) is so named because the first vaccine was derived from a virus affecting cows: the cowpox virus, a relatively benign virus that, in its ___133___ form, provides a degree of immunity to smallpox, a contagious and ___134___ disease. In common speech, 'vaccination' and 'immunization' generally have the same colloquial meaning.
Vaccination efforts were initially met with some resistance before early success brought widespread acceptance and mass vaccination campaigns were undertaken. The eradication of smallpox is considered the most spectacular success of vaccination. The last natural case of smallpox was discovered on October 26, 1977 in Somalia. This date is considered the anniversary of the ___135___ of smallpox.
Modern-day critics of vaccination are concerned that ___136___ vaccination plays a role in autoimmune disease and autism, though large-scale scientific studies have failed to find a link.
In the generic sense, the process of triggering immune response, in an effort to protect against infectious disease, works by 'priming' the immune system with an 'immunogen'. Stimulating immune response, via use of an infectious agent, is known as immunization. Vaccinations ___137___ the administration of one or more immunogens, in the form of live, but weakened (attenuated) infectious agents, which ___138___ are either weaker, but closely-related species (as with smallpox and cowpox), or strains weakened by some process. In such cases, an immunogen is called a vaccine.
Some modern vaccines are administered after the patient already has contracted a disease, as in the cases of experimental AIDS, cancer and Alzheimer's disease vaccines. Vaccinia given after exposure to smallpox, within the first four days, is reported to ___139___ the disease considerably, as vaccination within the first week is thought to be beneficial to a degree. The essential theory behind such immunizations is that the vaccine triggers ___140___ immune response than the natural infection itself.
131. 1. process 2. transmission 3. procedure 4. growing 5. method
132. 1. sick 2. unhealthy 3. disease 4. sickness 5. ailment
133. 1. healthy 2. demi 3. sick 4. weakened 5. unhealthy
134. 1. deathable 2. dead 3. deadly 4. deathly 5. deadable
135. 1. eradication 2. existence 3. killing 4. terminate 5. contaminate
136. 1. childhood 2. adulthood 3. childish 4. children 5. child
137. 1. produce 2. involve 3. need 4. acquaint 5. make
138. 1. virtually 2. normally 3. usually 4. always 5. actually
139. 1. attenuate 2. diminish 3. eradicate 4. disappear 5. decrease
140. 1. super 2. huge 3. enormous 4. superior 5. extra