Despite the anthrax scares in the US, it's smallpox that really worries me. I'm told it is impossible to get immunized against smallpox in the US just now, until they release the stockpile under very controlled circumstances sometime in the winter or spring. <BR> <BR>Is the situation the same in Europe, or can you obtain the smallpox innoculation for travel or any other reason?

Because smallpox has been extinct from the whole world for such a long time now, people don´t get vaccinations. I am older, so I have had smallpox vaccination in 1950´s, but that isn´t effective any more. So – no, we don´t get vaccinations, because there is no smallpox in the world except in two laboratories: one in USA and one in Russia.

hello, I'm a public health professional so keep up on literature, although this isn't my area of expertise, and the World Health Org. WHO) does some things globally so that countries work together, such as on immunization requirements for travelers or immigrants and they recommended vaccinations cease about 1980. Smallpox hasn't existed in the normal population for about 20 yrs, and the avg guy off the street can't get a vaccination anywhere. I don't know about what they are releasing in winter/spring but it might be from some lab workers or somebody in a special occupation, not just for anyone who wants it--they do not have very much. There's probably something about this on the WHO website, but I think a good overall article on this subject (history, epidemiology, use as biological weapon, vaccine supplies which is why you won't get any) was published in JAMA in 1999, here is the URL: http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v281.../jst90000.html

I'm not sure this answers your question but I was watching Dateline or something last night and I heard that the US has currently only 10 million smallpox vaccines on hand so it is not going to be available on demand. The program also featured an interview with Tom Ridge, the new US Homeland defense guy. He says that he would like to re-implement smallpox vaccinations in the US but he said production would be about 5 million doses per month. Simple math says that it would take over 4 years to vaccinate the United States. I imagine the situation would be similar abroad, at least in those countries that have the medical infrastucture and financial means to do it. <BR>I guess that's one of the things that puts me more at ease regarding biological terrorism. Even bin Laden and his ilk must realize that to release a highly infectious disease into the population would have the most disastrous effect in the countries that he purports to be fighting for. He may be nasty but he isn't stupid and only an idiot would let that genie out of the bottle. <BR>Just my two cents.

It is also my understanding that getting a small pox vaccine can occasionally cause problems..including mortality (very rarely but it can happen). I believe that the benefits were judged not worth the risk, when smallpox was judged to be a non-threat. <BR>I also was under the impression that US military personel is vaccinated for Smallpox... but I am not 100% certain about that. <BR>Incidentally, can you imagine the furor that could ensue if they began a mass smallpox vaccination program that resulted in some fatalities? Also, smallpox, if detected early enough CAN be treated.

US military personnel are not vaccinated for smallpox. It seems to me (and I could be wrong) that once the world was declared rid of smallpox, the vaccines were suspended because the disease could be reintroduced via the process used to make the vaccine (from the live virus). Jane's has some fairly informative articles on bio/chem warfare. They corroborate the previous posting about the downside of using virulent diseases as weapons.

The facts: Until 1971 it was standard practice for US children to be vaccinated against smallpox. Then the disease was declared "eradicated" and vaccinations were stopped in the US and more or less worldwide. <BR> <BR>Unfortunately, it wasn't _really_ eradicated because several countries grew and stored a substantial supply of the disease either for malevolent purposes -- germ warfare -- or as possible basis for further research for medical defense. Iraq almost certainly has a store of smallpox; Russia may have had some as well. <BR> <BR>The amount of vaccine in the US isn't going to come close to meeeting the need, but they are experimenting with diluting the existing doses -- in the next 2-3 months they will try to figure out the minimum concentration needed to create antibodies in one person (see CNN, Reuters websites). Then they will have to decide the order in which different populations will get the diluted vaccines while the drug companies try to generate new vaccines (a long, arduous, messy process): health care personnel, military, under-30s, vulnerable, etc. . . ). <BR> <BR>Even if you were vaccinated prior to 1971, chances are your immunity has declined substantially and maybe entirely. <BR> <BR>My original question was mostly out of curiosity, since I knew that, for a while, some military and diplomatic personnel in the US received the smallpox vaccine for deployment in certain areas _thought_ to be clear but not _known_ to be clear of smallpox. I wondered if any European countries had vaccine available for any reason. <BR> <BR>What was behind my question? The possibility that some small percentage of the population might still be immune.

PS: it is VERY difficult to treat smallpox, even if caught early. Some people do have reactions to the vaccine, and a few of them dangerously severe. But the mortality of a smallpox epidemic generally exceeds 90%, more in "vulnerable" populations (immuno-suppressed, elderly, already ill, etc.).

Sorry, PS again -- I misspoke re:morbidity level. It is not 90%, but if you get it and have no treatment whatsoever, your odds are quite poor. <BR> <BR>A great deal depends on whether the entire population exposed lacks any immunity or if some have residual immunity (e.g., from prior exposure, vaccination, etc.). It also depends on the severity and universality of the exposure -- i.e., it makes a difference whether a few infected people are wandering around the population or a large number of people come down with it all simultaneously, because (in theory) vaccination can help if you get it within 4 days of exposure -- but you have to KNOW you've been exposed, AND you have to get the vaccine. <BR> <BR>But smallpox is a virus, not a bacteria, so most treatment is for symptoms (fever, etc.) and not directed at the disease (unlike bacterial infections which may respond to antibiotics.

I am concerned about my two children, young adults who were, of course, not vaccinated. My daughter is living and working in Germany. I recently emailed her to get a vaccination if the German health service offered it. If I hear anything definitive on this subject, I will post again but I do think that vaccination stopped everywhere at the same time when the disease was "eradicated". <BR> <BR>Obviously, this entire subject needs to be rethought in light of recent events.