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Volume 3, Number 4—December 1997
THEME ISSUE
Foodborne
Special Issue

Infectious Disease as an Evolutionary Paradigm

Joshua Lederberg
Author affiliation: Sackler Foundation Scholar, Rockefeller University, New York, New York, USA

Main Article

Table 4

Technologies to address microbial threats

Antibacterial chemotherapy
Potentially unlimited capability; bacterial metabolism and genetic structure notably
different from human genome sequencing pointing to bacterial vulnerabilities
Economic-structural factors public expectation for unachievable bargains in safety
assurance, cost of development, and ultimate pricing
Dilemmas of regulation of (ab)use
Resurgent interest in bacteriophage and other biologically oriented approaches
Antiviral chemotherapy
Much more difficult program, inherently
Gross underinvestment
New approaches: antisense, ribozymes, targeted D/RNA cleavers
Problematics of sequence-selective targets
Vaccines
Gross underinvestment; other structural problems as above
Liability/indemnification
Vaccination as service to the herd
New approaches: hot biotechnology is coming along especially live attenuated: but testing dilemmas
Safety issues about use of human cells lines; adjuvants
Immunoglobulins and their progeny
Phage display and diversification: biosynthetic antibody
Passive immunization for therapy
Biologic response modifiers
New world of interleukins, cell growth factors so far just scratching surface
Interaction with pathogenesis
Intersection with somatic gene therapy
Technologies for diagnosis and monitoring
Etiologic agents and control
Host polymorphisms and sensitivities
Homely technologies needed
Simple, effective face-masks
Palatable water-disinfectants
Home-use diagnostics of contamination

Main Article

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Page updated: December 21, 2010
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