Smallpox Discrimination

It's killed more than prostate cancer and breast cancer fatality rates together. Smallpox was the first disease to be eliminated from the world through public-health efforts and vaccination. Smallpox still poses a threat because existing laboratory strains may be used as biological weapons. Approximately one-third of people with smallpox died from the disease. Survivors were scarred for life. If the eye was infected, blindness often resulted.There are new experimental medications that might be effective in smallpox, but these have not been tested in human cases since the disease has been eradicated.The smallpox vaccine contains a live virus called vaccinia. It is administered by dipping a pronged piece of metal into the vaccine and then pricking the skin.

The book is primarily an account of the Smallpox Eradication Program (1967–80), the ongoing perception by the U.S. government that smallpox is still a potential bioterrorism agent, and the controversy over whether or not the remaining samples of smallpox virus in Atlanta and Moscow (the “demon” in the freezer) should be finally destroyed.

Currently the only existing forms of smallpox are in two secure laboratories; the CDC facility in Atlanta and Russian State Research Centre for Virology and Biotechnology in Koltsovo. These samples were scheduled to be destroyed in 1993 but there was and still is much debate about what should happen to them.

One in Atlanta, Georgia, and the other in Russia. Recently, there has been a debate on whether they should keep the samples to research them for more possible ways to cure smallpox if it ever comes back. The side that says that the samples should be destroyed thinks that they might fall into the wrong hands and could be used in bioterrorism. In the words of the student, Peter Vessey, “I think the samples should be kept in one secure location, and researched in case they were used for evil”. Peter thinks that scientists and governments should agree on one safe place for the samples and secure them with whatever they can. Peter says, “I do not think smallpox will come back naturally any time soon, but they should keep the samples so people can research cures for other diseases of the same

Despite smallpox’s long history of harm, killing nearly 300 million people in the twentieth century alone, it is now considered eradicated thanks to a vaccine and vaccination program lead by the World Health Organization. Because of its eradication,

The Black Plague had many different types of affects that it influenced on the people exposed to it.

One threat that smallpox poses, is the use of it in biological warfare. According to Colette Flight, "in the 1990s the public discovered that Russia planned to turn smallpox into an effective weapon".

Stevens went into a coma and was dead in less than a week. His death shook up the Center of Disease Control (CDC) and had them scrambling to find out how to stop it. We are then taken to the United States Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) which is the principle biodefense laboratory in the United States. (Page 35, The Demon in the Freezer) On the books, the smallpox virus exists in only two places: “in freezers in a building called Corpus 6 at Vector in Siberia, and in a freezer in a building called the Maximum Containment Laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.” (Page 55, The Demon in the Freezer) Although people are not for certain, but in a safe at USAMRIID, there is said to be a list containing all of “the nations and groups that the CIA believes either have clandestine stocks of smallpox or are actively trying to get the virus.” Russia is at the top of the list. (Page 57, The Demon in the

Smallpox is caused by the variola virus an extremely contagious disease. That can be spread through any type of contact with the virus. The virus is a member of the genus Orthopoxvirus, in the Poxviridae family. Smallpox has been considered eradicated in the United States since 1972. Virologists have speculated that it evolved from an African rodent poxvirus 10 millennia ago. The name is derived from the Latin word for "spotted" and refers to the raised bumps on the face and body of the patient. (Medscape.com) Smallpox has been to blame for the extinction and almost extinction of many cultures. The disease has been used as biological warfare since the beginning or war. At times,

The preparedness community has vastly changed since we first started working toward eradicating smallpox. They have made progressions in areas of communication plans, isolation and quarantine, environmental control, and checklist for different levels of government.

As a brief history, smallpox was a disease that has afflicted and depopulated civilizations from as early as A.D. 400 in ancient India to as late as the 20th century. It is a unique disease because

Research is underway to find an effective anti-viral medication but those who are ill with smallpox need to be in a hospital setting under intensive care. While many of the population can get smallpox vaccine, there are some who are allergic to the vaccine or its components. “… pregnant women; women who are breastfeeding; people who have, or have had, skin conditions (especially eczema and atopic dermatitis); and people with weakened immune systems, such as those who have received a transplant, are HIV positive, are receiving treatment for cancer, or are taking medications (like steroids) to suppress the immune system,” (CDC, 2016, para 14). Despite these advances in medical technology, we argue that there needs to be more done. “While certain aspects of the original research goals using live virus have been met, other key items, like the wider approval of accurate diagnostics that can distinguish smallpox from other orthopoxvirus diseases or the full licensure of new antiviral drugs and vaccines that are effective against variola virus, have not yet been completed,” (Damon, 2014, para 7). Treatments such as cidofovir and brincidofovir (CMX001) and tecovirimat (ST-246) have worked for many as a clinical drug, there are some long term side effects that follow.

Smallpox has been a feared disease throughout history due to huge epidemics resulting in a large number of deaths (Carson- Dewitt 2006). The name Smallpox, or the Variola Virus, was common around 570 AD and introduced by Bishop Marious of Avenches. Variola derives from the Latin word various meaning stained or various or mark on the skin (Milton 2012). Milder patterns of the virus can be called cotton pox, white pox, and the Cuban itch (OMICS International 2006). The word smallpox was first used in 15th century England in order to tell the difference between syphilis called “great pocks”, and the variola virus (Riley 2006).

Smallpox virus vial is a debated issue and it is on top of the hot topics argued by the World Health Organization (WHO) over 25 years (WHO, 2011). In 1980 the WHO enounce the eradication, and thus they called for destruction of rest of vials of the virus (WHO, 2011). However, some people argued that with the smallpox there is still some studies need to be done and thus it is not valid yet. This has resulted in along debate that is expected to continue. Supporters claim that it should be destroyed because studies of the virus have been already completed and if not destroyed it can be used as a bioweapon. On the other hand, opponents claim that it is needed for the development of safer version of the vaccination.

A group of scientists met at Andrew Air Force Base in last June to “run a computer stimulation exercise known as the Dark Winter.” In it, former government officials acted if they were struggling with a bio-terrorist attack using smallpox. In the scenario, “three shopping centres in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Oklahoma” were introduced to a smallpox virus. The first case was diagnosed in nine days. The “government” was unable to isolate the victims because small pox has an incubation period “between 7 and 17 days,” during which carriers of the virus spread infection to others. The infectious virus spread to such an extent that it was not enough vaccine for the affected areas.