The international vaccine scene

INFECTIOUS AND COMMUNICABLE DISEASES account for a large burden of disease worldwide, causing the death of roughly a million people each month (WHO 2004). This book is about some of the ways in which this enormous problem is being addressed. The book comprises a collection of papers from the global Conference on vaccines, prevention, and public health and is as much about public health thinking in communicable disease control as it is specifically about vaccines. Its contributors are practitioners in the field of immunisation and communicable disease control from all over the world. The book is clearly set out in eight sections, with both an introductory summary, Setting the stage, and an Epilogue summary section. The specific sections cover The present, with summaries of measles, rubella and poliovirus control measures, as well as the case of yellow fever which is used as a warning about what can happen if we take our eyes off the public-health-control ball. This is followed by The cutting edge, covering the newest vaccines for Haemophilus influenzae, varicella (chicken pox), hepatitis A, and the two major bacterial infections ? meningococcal and pneumococcal diseases. The future section covers prospects for vaccines to control a variety of infections, including the enteric diseases rotavirus, Shigella and typhoid; two major causes of cancer, Helicobacter pylori (gastric cancers and ulcers) and human papillomavirus (cervical cancer); hepatitis C; and two common causes of viral respiratory disease, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). RSV is a good example of a common disease which carries a large burden of morbidity (Chin 2002) all over the world, especially among children, and yet few people have heard of it.