Vaccine strategy when the smallpox model fails: 1. immune cognition, Malaria and the Fulani

This is the latest version of this eprint.

Abstract

We begin to examine the implications of IR Cohen's work on immune cognition [1-3] for vaccine strategies when simple elicitation of sterilizing immunity fails, as is the case for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. Cohen's approach takes on a special importance in the context of recent work by Nisbett et al. [4] showing clearly that central nervous system (CNS) cognition is not universal, but rather differs fundamentally for populations having different cultural systems. A growing body of evolutionary anthropology indeed suggests that such effects are inevitable, since culture is as much a part of human biology 'as the enamel on our teeth.' Thus a successful vaccine strategy for use when the smallpox model fails must address a condensation of sociocultural and immune cognition, in the same sense that neuroimmunology and immunogenetics describe the condensation of CNS and genetic 'languages' with immune function. We reinterpret recent studies of African cultural variation in immune response to malaria from this perspective.

Available Versions of this Item

• Immune cognition and culture: implications for the AIDS vaccine. (deposited 06 Jun 2001)
  • Vaccine strategy when the smallpox model fails: 1. immune cognition, Malaria and the Fulani. (deposited 02 Jul 2001) [Currently Displayed]