The varicella zoster (chickenpox) virus has been essentially eradicated thanks to the vaccine developed by Japanese virologist Dr. Michiaki Takahashi, ...
In approximately 1 in 3 people who contract chickenpox, the virus reactivates later in life to produce shingles (herpes zoster). In 1954, he earned his MD from the Osaka University Medical School, and completed a medical science graduate poxvirus virology degree in 1959. The virus is most contagious in the 1-2 days before a rash appears. Chickenpox caused an average of 4 million infections in the US well into the early 1990s. Today, it is available in the US under the trade name Varivax. If administered within 5 days of chickenpox exposure, the vaccine can prevent most cases of disease. Takahashi developed the “Oka” chickenpox vaccine by producing a live, but weakened, strain of varicella zoster virus.
A look at the life and work of Dr Michiaki Takahashi, the scientist that developed the chickenpox vaccine.
In 1984, use of the vaccine was approved by eight European countries. A varicella vaccination campaign was conducted on 23 uninfected pediatric patients to prevent the spread of the infection. The varicella vaccine was developed by using the VZV isolated from the vesicular fluid of a child with typical varicella. At the time, Takahashi started his research by culturing live but weakened varicella-zoster virus (VZV) in animal and human tissue. The scientist went back to Japan in 1965 and became involved in tumour virus research. Takahashi recognised the symptoms, knowing it could be severe and that there was no treatment.
The young boy had a high fever, and waves of small red bumps – which eventually became blisters and then open sores – covered his body.
Google is celebrating virologist Dr. Michiaki Takahashi, who developed the first vaccine against chickenpox, with a new Doodle.
He returned to Japan in 1965 and began working on the vaccine, making it ready for clinical trials after five years of development. The vaccine started to be rolled out in Japan in 1986 was soon used in over 80 countries. Takahashi was born on this day in 1928 in Osaka, Japan. He graduated with his medical degree from Osaka University. Takahashi later accepted a research fellowship in 1963 at Baylor College in the U. S.
Dr. Michiaki Takahashi, a Japanese virologist who developed the first chickenpox vaccine, is being honored by Google with the Feb. 17 Google Doodle.
Google honored Takahashi with a doodle illustration showing him administering the vaccine. While in the U. S., his son got chickenpox, inspiring him to study the illness. In 1994, Takahashi was appointed the director of Osaka University’s Microbial Disease Study Group.
Dr Takahashi was born on this day in 1928 in Japan's Osaka. His chickenpox vaccine, named 'Oka', was developed in 1974 and subsequently approved by the World ...
In 1974, he came up with the first vaccine against Varicella Virus, which causes the disease. The drug was subjected to a thorough trial process, involving immunosuppressed patients, eventually proving to be highly effective. A doodle on search giant Google’s homepage on February 17, 2022, has featured Japanese virologist Dr Michiaki Takahashi, the developer of the world’s first vaccine against chickenpox, to commemorate his 94th birthday.