We used to get small pox vaccines when I was a kid,what's the big deal?
AIDS made people stop caring about 'mere Herpes.' Do you want people to stop caring about 'mere AIDS?'
Smallpox vaccination, unlike smallpox itself, doesn't give lifetime immunity, only 10-15 years. Virtually everyone is at risk. It's very contagious. Prior to Jenner's vaccine it was like chickenpox; everyone got it as a child. You either survived or became a statistic. Historical mortality rates with the more severe variola major strain averaged 30-40% and some historical outbreaks hit 90%. If you want to kill billions the easiest way known to man is to infect a bunch of suicide volunteers and spread them around the world before they become symptomatic.
Strict quarantine and mass vaccination of everyone around outbreaks is the only defense. You'd have to shut down the economy in affected areas for a couple weeks. These 40M units of vaccine may not be enough, but at least we have a production line again and can make more. The vaccine itself can make you seriously ill or even dead, especially if you have atopic dermatitis (eczema.) Other than injection of stored immunoglobulin from smallpox survivors or effectively vaccinated persons, very little of which exists, there is no proven treatment. It's possible some of the newer antivirals may work. There is anecdotal evidence that Cidofivir works against at least one pox virus, molluscom contagiosum (which causes only minor skin infections.) Unfortunately Cidofivir seriously nephrotoxic and requires IV administration. We should be developing better drugs.
As a Dermatologist I probably could diagnose smallpox. I pray I never do.
still, I wonder if having passed through such outbreaks in the past, if a lot of Americans still carry resistance to it? Or were descended from people who showed natural immunity and might be resistant? Historically, not everyone in a village would succumb.
Which disease was the one (or more) they used to inject you in the shoulder for... and you would usually get a rised scar on the shoulder as a result? That wasn't for smallpox was it? They gave me that one but for some reason it didn't scar, but it's been so long I don't remember what the shots were for.
I would love to find a statistic on how many people have eczema. My 3 yo son has it. My husband has it (is it hereditary? He also has rosacea.) I've had anecdotal evidence that it's caused by allergies or sensitivities to various foods/chemicals, so I wonder what would the mortality rate be now, in a world where we're exposed to many more potential allergens/chemicals that cause eczema?