Diseases
These are some of the diseases which the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Division of Biologics Standards (DBS) researched and the related biologics which they regulated. Biologics are biological products made to prevent or treat a disease. They include vaccines, blood and blood products, allergenics, somatic cells, gene therapy, tissues, and recombinant therapeutic proteins.
Testing for endotoxins (a toxin released from a bacteria cell when the cell disintegrates) in injectable biologics was revolutionized in Building 29A.
Blood Banks & Blood Products
Regulating blood banks and blood products such as platelets was an important job at the Division of Biologics Standards (DBS).
Cholera is a bacterial disease transmitted through contaminated water or food supplies. It was a stubborn problem, particularly in urban areas, and could be mild or fatal.
Hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C are liver infections caused by three different viruses. They can be transmitted by blood products, sexual activity, and sharing needles.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) attacks the immune system and, if not treated, can lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). There is currently no cure for HIV, but with proper medical care people can still live long, healthy lives.
As early as the ninth century, a Persian doctor wrote about measles. In 1912, measles became a nationally notifiable disease in the United States, requiring doctors and laboratories to report all diagnosed cases. In the first half of the twentieth century, nearly all children got measles.
Pertussis, or whooping cough, is an acute infectious disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. Symptoms include running nose, sneezing, low-grade fever, a mild cough, and later, bursts of numerous, rapid coughs, due to difficulty expelling thick mucus, accompanied by a high-pitched whooping sound.
Poliomyelitis (often just called polio now) is an acute paralytic disease. It’s an enterovirus, transmitted through contact with people, by nasal and oral secretions, and by contact with contaminated feces. Polio virus enters the body through the mouth, multiplying along the way and especially in the digestive tract.
Rubella is a contagious viral infection best known by its distinctive red rash. From 1964–1965 there was a rubella epidemic in the United States and subsequently there were 11,000 stillbirths, miscarriages, and abortions, and at least 20,000 congenitally infected infants called “rubella babies” which spurred the search for a vaccine.
Tetanus is an acute, often fatal, disease caused by an exotoxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium tetani. Exotoxins are toxins released by a living bacterial cell into its surroundings. Symptoms of tetanus include generalized rigidity and convulsive spasms of skeletal muscles. The muscle stiffness usually begins in the jaw (lockjaw) and neck and then becomes more generalized throughout the body.
Typhoid fever is a bacterial disease caused by Salmonella typhi. Symptoms of typhoid fever are similar to other gastrointestinal illnesses and include fever, headache, nausea, constipation or diarrhea, loss of appetite and a rose-colored rash on the body. Typhoid fever spreads from person to person via contaminated food and water, and via the fecal-oral route.
Yellow fever had been around since at least the 18th century, and was known and feared throughout the 19th century, especially in port towns with the arrival of new ships. After the Spanish-American War, a Yellow Fever Commission was established in the United States to investigate. The focus shifted to prevention via mosquito control.
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