Prospects for new viral vaccines.

The records of virus vaccinology are impressive. Smallpox has been subjected to global eradication and diseases like poliomyelitis and measles have been extensively reduced in many industrialized countries. The prospects for development of new vaccines are good, and new fields of knowledge have opened up as a consequence of the introduction of revolutionary technology such as recombinant-DNA technology and the hybridoma and synthetic peptide methodology. Thus, the way ahead will involve both implementation of the effective use of available products and logistic decisions about the most appropriate technology for new immunogen products.