Experts from the School of Vaccines also discussed the cases of whooping cough in Bulgaria
There will be an HIV vaccine within a year.
This became clear at the sixteenth edition of the School of Vaccines, which attracted the interest of a wide range of specialists – general practitioners, representatives of the RZI and the National Center for Infectious Parasitic Diseases, doctors from hospital and outpatient care, nurses and midwives, laboratory specialists, microbiologists and medical students.
The hybrid event was organized by the Astra Forum Foundation with the assistance of the WHO office in Bulgaria and in partnership with the Patient Portal. With this “Vaccine School”, the organizers celebrated World Immunization Week, which is between April 24 and 30, and the 50th anniversary of the WHO Expanded Program on Immunization.
“In its 50 years of existence, the World Health Organization’s Expanded Program on Immunization has protected generations from deadly infectious diseases. When it was launched, only 5% of people were vaccinated against six diseases, and now 80% of people are vaccinated against 12 diseases”, – pointed out the public health expert and consultant of the WHO office in Bulgaria Jennifer Melgaard. – “At the same time, misinformation and created mistrust in vaccines costs human lives. Here, it is the role of medical professionals to provide reliable information about vaccines, listen to patients’ fears and, through compassionate care, build their trust. Because vaccines are effective and safe.”
Prof. Mira Kozhuharova made a historical overview of vaccine prophylaxis in the world. “Vaccine prevention was born not because someone invented it, but from the need of humanity to protect itself from the deadliest diseases. Thus, the first information about a vaccine dates back to 1550,” explained Prof. Kojuharova. – “Edward Jenner has a special place in history. In 1796, he administered the first successful smallpox vaccine to an 8-year-old boy, extracted from material from the postula of a milkmaid who had smallpox. The production of smallpox vaccine in Bulgaria started in Razgrad following the decree of Prince Battenberg in 1881. In 1903, this vaccine became mandatory, and since 1927 there have been no smallpox cases in Bulgaria. It was not until 1980 that the WHO reported that smallpox had been completely eradicated worldwide.
In the 19th century, vaccines against rabies (Louis Pasteur 1885), cholera, typhoid and plague were created and successfully applied. In the 20th century, vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, tuberculosis, yellow fever, typhus, influenza, polio, Japanese encephalitis, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, meningococci, viral hepatitis and many others were created.
In this century, Americans have only feared polio and nuclear war. Mass immunization in the USA began in 1955, and very quickly the number of sick children decreased dramatically. Today, the only polio-endemic areas are Afghanistan and Pakistan, where vaccination is impeded by military conflict.
The achievement of the 21st century is the creation of conjugate vaccines, which can be administered completely safely to babies as well,” added Prof. Kojuharova.
About the 140 years in public health service of the National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (NCCPD) its director told – Prof. Dr. Iva Hristova. “In 1884, the Ospenov Institute moved from Razgrad to Sofia, and in 1901 it merged with the Bacteriological Institute, which had existed since 1884. This was the beginning of the NCZPB and the production of vaccines against rabies and cholera, as well as anti-diphtheria serum. “Since 1908, the activity of the institute for laboratory diagnostics of infectious diseases and epidemiological studies began to develop intensively,” said Prof. Hristova.
The virologist devoted his lecture to human oncogenic viruses Prof. Dr. Radka Argirova. “These viruses deregulate cell growth and division, disrupt the process of cell death, thereby making the cell immortal. As a result, a large mass of cells accumulates – the tumor. About 12 to 17% of cancer cases are related to infectious agents – bacteria, viruses and parasites, and the largest part of these cases are caused by papillomaviruses, hepatitis B, etc. Herpes viruses (e.g. Epstein-Barr virus) can cause a latent infection in addition to a lytic infection. It expresses a limited number of latency genes that maintain the viral genome in cells. Suddenly, an infectious virus can be spontaneously produced in the body that interacts with cellular proteins to cause cancer. It is not possible that cancer is incurable. To protect ourselves from cancer, we must protect our cells from viruses by training the immune system. The outcome of persistent viral infection depends on how the immune system will act. I expect very soon that there will be a vaccine against the Epstein-Barr virus, as well as against the cytomegalovirus, which is also a representative of the herpes viruses. And within a year we will have a vaccine against HIV”, said Prof. Argirova categorically.
About the information campaign launched in April for the vaccines of the Ministry of Health and for the site for immunoprophylaxis “+men” told Dr. Kremena Parmakova, Head of the “Infectious Disease Control” Department at the Ministry of Health. “True and accessible information about immunizations and about the diseases that vaccines prevent, including whooping cough (whooping cough), can be found on the specialized site “+me”. In the last month I have 50,000 users and in just one day the users were 15,000 because of the cases of whooping cough.
We also have feedback, with ten inquiries answered every day. We have a Facebook profile “+me” where we post vaccine-related messages daily. The painted character of the campaign is “Plushman”, whose message is: “It’s not important to be Superman. The important thing is to be vaccinated and join the Plusman team.” Part of the information campaign is also the attraction of influencers and popular personalities to become ambassadors of the benefits of vaccines,” explained Dr. Parmakova.
The chairman of the Astra Forum Association, Dr. Momchil Baev introduced their new Immunity Ambassadors initiative, in which physicians from all specialties of goodwill promote vaccination, first to their colleagues and then to their patients. Dr. Baev emphasized that in the fight against misinformation about vaccines, facts are not enough: “Our target group is not the anti-vaxxers, who are strongly prejudiced, but the hesitant, who need more information to make a decision. In order for communication to be effective, physicians must apply an emotional approach. The patient needs his fears and beliefs to be listened to and those fears and beliefs to be soothed by the understanding that the doctor is there to take responsibility for his health and meet his needs.”
Dr. Baev also presented the second supplemented and revised edition of the handbook “Interpersonal Communication for Immunizations”, the scientific editing of which is by Prof. Mira Kojuharova. The manual is available digitally on the Astra Forum website, and the printed edition will be ready soon.
In a discussion after the lectures, the main topic was cases of whooping cough, also known as whooping cough, in Bulgaria. It became clear that there were 38 children with whooping cough, and two babies died. “From 80 to 90 new cases are registered per week, and since the source of infection is not found in most children, within a month the cases of whooping cough will increase to 1,000”, predicted the director of the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Prof. Iva Hristova.
Dr. Kremena Parmakova reported that there have been epidemic outbreaks of whooping cough in many European countries since 2023. Children from 10 to 19 years of age are mainly affected, and anti-epidemic measures are related to protecting the youngest children, since whooping cough is often fatal in babies. Prof. Parmakova emphasized that children with an allergy to proteins (milk, eggs) can be vaccinated against whooping cough. She advised adults in families with babies to get vaccinated.
