Inoculation, Protective

a method of preventing infectious diseases of man and animals. It is one of the forms of immunization and creates artificial immunity by means of the injection of vaccines, immune sera, or gamma globulin into the body.

Protective inoculation is performed to prevent one or several—up to five or seven—infectious diseases. In the case of certain diseases it is performed in systematic order: these include tuberculosis, smallpox, diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, and poliomyelitis in humans and brucellosis, cattle and swine plague, and foot-and-mouth disease in animals. With such infections as typhoid fever, anthrax, and tularemia it is performed according to epidemiological indications.

Protective inoculation is also used to prevent disease in individuals who have come into contact with infected persons or who have been bitten by ticks or by animals suspected of rabies. A special regimen must be observed during the period of immunization against certain infections.