Pathogens have become so prevalent and pervasive that they can always put our lives in danger.
Due to the exposed environment, they come up with different mutations and try to evade the safety mechanism that we call the immune.
We human beings have come up with numerous ways to counter the ever-growing and ever-mutating pathogens. But the different types of safety mechanisms depend on the way they are made and the effects that they produce.
Key Takeaways
- Vaccines introduce a weakened or inactivated form of a pathogen to the body, stimulating an immune response, while toxoids contain inactivated bacterial toxins that trigger immunity against the toxin.
- Vaccines protect against viral and bacterial infections, while toxoids specifically target diseases caused by toxin-producing bacteria.
- Both vaccines and toxoids help the immune system develop immunity to harmful pathogens and prevent future infections.
Vaccine vs Toxoid
A vaccine is a medical product that is designed to stimulate the immune system to provide protection against a specific infectious disease. A toxoid is a modified or inactivated toxin that has lost its harmful effects but can still stimulate the production of antibodies in the body’s immune system.
Vaccines help our body to get an active immune capable of protecting us against any pathogens that can be a threat to our lives. There are various types of vaccines based on the methodology used to prepare them.
If the dead pathogen makes the vaccine then it is called an inactivated vaccine. mRNA vaccines have emerged as a saver against the COVID-19 virus,, another type of vaccine.
Vaccines can be categorized based on their use,, e.g., therapeutic vaccines help fight an ill person.
Toxoid being one of the types of vaccine, differs from other forms of vaccines because of the method employed to make them. It can be made using some toxic substance produced by the pathogen that causes illness.
Instead of targeting the entire germ, they only produce immunity against the causing factor. To treat tetanus toxoid vaccine is popularly known to people as a tetanus vaccine.
It is made from the toxins produced by c. tetani, a bacterium.
Comparison Table
| Parameter of Comparison | Vaccine | Toxoid |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Vaccines are of many types based on the method employed to produce them. | Toxoids are only one type based on the process involved in manufacturing them. |
| Constituent | A substance that is administered to act against the toxicity produced by the pathogen. | It is made from only the toxic products of the pathogen. |
| Target | Target depends on the type of vaccine. | The target is the toxins produced by the pathogen. |
| Agent | The agent used to make vaccines could be live or dead. | The agent used to make toxoids is a neutralized toxic substance. |
| Definition | Any substance that is administered to give an immune response. | A substance that is administered to act against the toxic produced by the pathogen. |
What is Vaccine?
Vaccines are just like teachers teaching our immune system to fight against pathogens affecting our everyday body function.
It achieves its objective by producing an immune response against the germ that causes a malfunction in our everyday body.
It can be made using various methods, and depending on the technique employed, it can have varying effects on the pathogens and the body. Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine for covid-19 is one example.
Vaccines are just like teachers teaching our immune system to fight against pathogens affecting our everyday body function.
It achieves its objective by producing an immune response against the germ that causes a malfunction in our everyday body.
It can be made using various methods, and depending on the technique employed it can have varying effects on the pathogens and the body.
Other forms are mRNA vaccines, which make proteins to protect against diseases, viral vector vaccines, toxoid vaccines, etc. All these vaccines use a different methodology to produce immunity against germs.
The vaccines that use RNA, DNA, or viral vector are called genetic vaccines.
Based on the number of strains of the same germ that vaccines protect against they can be categorized into two parts monovalent and multivalent.
Monovalent vaccines protect only one, but multivalent vaccines can protect against multiple strains related to the same microorganism.
What is Toxoid?
Toxoids are a form of vaccine made from the toxic substance produced by the microorganism that causes the illness.
It only targets the toxic substance but not the pathogen, which differentiates it from other types of vaccines that may target entire microorganisms.
The toxic substance used to make it is inactive but carries immunogenicity and other properties. Interestingly not all toxoids are used against microorganisms. Some are used for other purposes as well; for example, Crotalus Atrox is used for dogs to cure rattlesnake bites.
Treating toxic substances to make them suitable for use is chemical or pyrogenic. It makes the toxicity of the substance fade, but other vital properties remain the same.
The altered form of the toxic is called toxoid, and when administered, it generates a memory against the poisonous substance without causing any related illness.
Toxoids are called vaccines because they can produce immunity against the toxic substance that causes illness.
Toxoids are also used to develop human antitoxins. In many plasma centres in the USA, multiple dosages of tetanus vaccine are used to produce highly effective immunity against tetanus which in turn makes globulins that can kill tetanus.
Main Differences Between Vaccine and Toxoid
- Vaccines are of different types depending on the method employed to make them, whereas toxoids are only one type based on the method used to make them.
- Vaccines can have live pathogens in them, whereas only the deactivated toxic are present in toxoids.
- Vaccines may attack the entire germ, but toxoids only target the toxic the pathogen produces.
- Vaccines can be genetic, such as mRNA and DNA vaccines, but toxoids can only be based on the altered form of the toxic substance produced by the pathogen.
- The target of a vaccine correlates to their type, but for toxoid, the case is different as it only targets the toxic substance, and hence the target is unique.
References
- https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/7420
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc2047731/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1525001604013425
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0264410X9290021B
Last Updated : 01 July, 2023
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Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.
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The content provides a critical analysis of vaccines and toxoids.
The post provides a crucial understanding of vaccines and toxoids
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Vaccines help our body to get an active immune capable of protecting us against any pathogens that can be a threat to our lives.
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