Viral hepatitis is a very common infectious disease re o ible for causing more than 1.5 million a ua
Intrigued by the fact that increasingly larger numbers of perso who received blood tra fusio experienced symptoms such as high fever, chills and skin rashes, doctors decided to carefully analyze a series of immune reactio to foreign protei in blood samples taken from such perso in order to reveal the exact sources of their symptoms. After comparing the immune reactio of the perso who had been administered blood tra fusio with those of people in good health, medical scientists were able to reveal a type of protein that rarely reacted with antibodies produced by the immune system.
Due to the fact that the analyzed immune reaction was extremely rare, medical scientists concluded that it wa t caused by genetic particularities in the human blood, but by a certain type of infectious agent. The discovered infectious agent later received the name of antigen Aa. After continuing their research on blood protei , doctors discovered a correlation between antigen Aa and hepatitis. Researchers later concluded that antigen Aa was actually a component part of the virus identified to cause hepatitis B.
The findings determined medical scientists to take additional measures in preventing the occurrence of hepatitis among the population. By testing blood tra fusio for the presence of the causative virus, scientists hoped to reduce the risks of tra mitting hepatitis from one individual to another. The method used to detect the presence of the virus in the blood was given the name of radioimmunoa ay. In present, this technique is still used to test the integrity and safety of blood tra fusio and other blood products. A reciated for its efficiency and reliability, radioimmunoa ay is the predece or of todays modern techniques used in blood screening.
Another breakthrough co isted in finding an effective vaccine agai t hepatitis. For the first time in history, the main curative agent used in creating the vaccine was actually a modified strain of the causative virus. By altering the virus in the laboratory and introducing it in a vaccine, virologists were able to stimulate an immune reaction to that particular virus in the human body. A few years later, the ongoing research conducted on hepatitis led to another crucial discovery: the HCV hepatitis C virus. Short after, medical scientists came up with efficient vaccines for all existing hepatitis virus types: A, B and C.
Over a period of only a few decades, doctors discovered valuable facts on hepatitis, as well as efficient methods of preventing its tra mi ion. Thanks to the remarkable findings of several pioneer virologists and biologists, medical science was revolutionized and the mystery around many different viral infectious diseases was finally unveiled.
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