A young man about to leave for his freshman year of college visits his physician in order to ensure that his immunizations are up-to-date. Because he is living in a college dormitory, his physician gives him a vaccine that prevents meningococcal disease. What type of vaccine did this patient likely receive?
1.Live , attenuated
2.Killed , inactivated
3.Toxoid
4.Conjugated polysaccharide
5.Killed, attenuated
sol:
The vaccine commonly used to prevent Neisseria meningitidis infection/Meningococcal Disease is a conjugated polysaccharide vaccine.
One type of vaccine commonly used to prevent against infection/disease by encapsulated bacteria is a conjugated polysaccharide vaccine. These vaccines pair a weakly immunogenic bacterial polysaccharide with a strongly immunogenic protein such as a toxoid or an outer membrane protein. By coupling the two, a stronger immune response is initiated against either the polysaccharide alone or the protein alone. This type of vaccine is also licensed for prevention against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Illustration A depicts a gram stain of N. meningitidis. Note the gram negative diplococci.