Abstract
Most human pathogens initiate their infectious processes at mucosal surfaces, but most of the licensed vaccines available against these agents are usually given parentally. This is due in part to the relative difficulty in achieving effective mucosal immunization. Future progress in vaccination will be significantly advanced by application of emerging technologies for immunization of inucosal surfaces. Although living vaccines have been the most promising candidates for mucosal vaccination, development of microencapsulated delivery system and adjuvants has made non-living iactivated or subunit vaccines reasonable options for mucosal immunization. Furthermore, such vaccinations should be developed as combined agent vaccines, possibly deliverable by multiple mucosal routes.
