These are just some of the headlines that appeared in newspapers recently announcing that a vaccine for asthma could soon be a possibility. The story, however, was not quite what it seemed. But the research that prompted it was a good example of a new approach being taken by today's scientists looking for a cure for asthma. Nowadays we can vaccinate against a whole range of diseases. Mass vaccination programmes have virtually rid the world of terrifying killers such as polio, diphtheria and smallpox.
Vaccination enhances our natural ability to fight disease.
It involves introducing a small dose of the virus or organism that actually causes the disease into the body. Because the vaccination does not contain any of the original powerful virus, you do not develop the illness. Instead, the body's immune system primes itself by retaining a biological 'memory' of that particular disease. If the vaccinated person is later exposed to full-strength live disease, the body recognises it and the infection is halted. Because asthma is not caused by a micro-organism, this kind of straightforward vaccination is not an option.