Approaches and issues towards development of efficient mucosal vaccines against pneumonia

Pneumonia is a deadly respiratory disease inflicting millions of people in third world countries. Current vaccination strategies which include polysaccharide-based vaccines are not effective against all strains of pneumonia. Furthermore, these vaccines are given through parenteral route instead of the more preferred mucosal route which has the obvious advantage of eliciting both systemic as well as mucosal immune responses. This review intends to understand the etiology, treatment options, and potential delivery systems for the vaccination against pneumonia via mucosal route. Various vaccination options including current polysaccharide-based vaccinations along with potential protein-based vaccines have been discussed.