Emergency and therapeutic vaccination – Is stimulating innate immunity an option?

There is increasing evidence that activation of innate immunity, in animals and man, by live vaccines, sub-unit vaccines or synthetic or non-synthetic stimulants can induce a profound and rapidly induced resistance to pathogens, including infectious agents that are unrelated to the stimulating antigen or agent. We review the evidence for this phenomenon and present the proposition that this approach might be used to stimulate immunity during the life of the animal when susceptibility to infection is high and when normal vaccination procedures may be inappropriate.