Prior to the World Health Organization's announcement of total eradication in 1977 [J. Am. Med. Assoc. 281 (1999) 1735], smallpox was a worldwide pathogen. Vaccinations were ceased in 1980 and now with a largely unprotected world population, smallpox is considered the ideal biowarfare agent [Antiviral Res. 57 (2002) 1]. Infection normally occurs after implantation of the virus on the oropharyng...

Smallpox is a devastating viral illness that was eradicated after an aggressive, widespread vaccination campaign. Routine U.S. childhood vaccinations ended in 1972, and routine military vaccinations ended in 1990. Recently, the threat of bioterrorist use of smallpox has revived the need for vaccination. Over 450,000 U.S. military personnel received the vaccination between December 2002 and June...

BACKGROUND Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected persons are at higher risk for serious complications associated with traditional smallpox vaccines. Alternative smallpox vaccines with an improved safety profile would address this unmet medical need. METHODS The safety and immunogenicity of modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) was assessed in 91 HIV-infected adult subjects (CD4(+) T-cell count...

We recently developed a set of seven resequencing GeneChips for the rapid sequencing of Variola virus strains in the WHO Repository of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In this study, we attempted to hybridize these GeneChips with some known non-Variola orthopoxvirus isolates, including monkeypox, cowpox, and vaccinia viruses, for rapid detection.

An entrenched part of the multicultural canon can be summed up by quoting from a book intended for undergraduate college students: "In the 1760s the British at Fort Pitt gave blankets from the smallpox hospital to Delaware Indians as a form of germ warfare."' The story has been repeated time and again and has now become dogma, or so it seems. This essay will reexamine this familiar tale and wha...

A single, indeterminate leprosy lesion localised exclusively to a smallpox vaccination scar in a 32-year old Indian male is reported. The diagnosis was confirmed by histopathology. This is the second published report of a leprosy lesion occurring at the site of a smallpox vaccination.

Modified vaccinia Ankara virus (MVA) is a smallpox vaccine candidate. This study was performed to determine if MVA vaccination provides long-term protection against rabbitpox virus (RPXV) challenge, an animal model of smallpox. Two doses of MVA provided 100% protection against a lethal intranasal RPXV challenge administered 9 months after vaccination.

BACKGROUND The United States is implementing plans to immunize 500,000 hospital-based healthcare workers against smallpox. Vaccination is voluntary, and it is unknown what factors drive vaccine acceptance. This study's aims were to estimate the proportion of workers willing to accept vaccination and to identify factors likely to influence their decisions. METHODS The survey was conducted amon...

The transmission of smallpox by contaminated bed clothes (Stallybrass, 1931) and by dust from the floor of a patient's room (Downie and Dumbell, 1947) is evidence of the stability of variola virus under natural conditions. Experimental proof of the survival of variola virus in exudates and crusts from humans was reported by Buddingh (1938) and North et al., (1944). The former investigator noted...

Smallpox was eradicated by the World Health Organization in 1980. Before its eradication thedisease had a mortality rate upwards of 50% and had a significant impact on society. During theAmerican Revolutionary war, smallpox outbreaks were impeding the American war effort until1777 when George Washington carried out a mass inoculation campaign in the ContinentalArmy that reduced the mortality fr...