Immunologic Factor
attenuated vaccine
[ uh-ten-yoo-ey-ted vak-seen, vak-seen, -sin ]
Subclass of:
Vaccines
Definitions related to vaccines, attenuated:
-
(live vaccine) Living microorganism, usually attenuated, administered to induce an immune response, containing a pathogen that either causes no or acceptable reactions, gives cross protection, or is the actual pathogen against which protection is wanted.CRISP ThesaurusNational Institutes of Health, 2006
-
Live vaccines prepared from microorganisms which have undergone physical adaptation (e.g., by radiation or temperature conditioning) or serial passage in laboratory animal hosts or infected tissue/cell cultures, in order to produce avirulent mutant strains capable of inducing protective immunity.NLM Medical Subject HeadingsU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
-
(attenuated live vaccine) Any vaccine created by reducing the virulence of the infectious agent but still keeping the agent viable (live). In the production of an attenuated vaccine, the infectious agent is altered so that it becomes harmless or less virulent. This is in contrast to those vaccines produced by killing the pathogen (inactivated vaccine).NCI ThesaurusU.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
Return to OpenMD Medical Dictionary
> A
This content should not be used in place of medically-reviewed decision support reference material or professional medical advice. Some terms may have alternate or updated definitions not reflected in this set. The definitions on this page should not be considered complete or up to date.