Smallpox Epidemic Rapidly Spreading In Pakistan Province

Dawn.com ^ | 6/9/2002 | Muqaddam Khan

[freepsolo]

Smallpox could be found in remote areas of uncivilized parts of the World.

When they say Smallpox has been eradicated - they mean in
the Western modern civilization sense.

The viewpoint doesn't include barbarians and nomadic
cultures who wonder remote geographic lands.

As Modern civilizations reach into these areas with advanced transportation vehicles (airplanes)
- other outbreaks of thought to be extinct scourges will and can occur. This is a Liberal statement - All "fill in the Blank"
has been eliminated - is based on a static state of nothing ever changing.

The position of a Bureacrat saying eradicated is not based
on fortelling of advancements in World Trade and new technologies advancing
into uncivilized countries. They didn't have cell phones when smallpox was declared dead.

[OReilly]

You can't make the smallpox virus into smaller weaponized particles. It's not like anthrax.

You don't need to, it's a virus (tiny). To weaponize it, you would work on culturing more virulent strains and developing better areosolization methods. Or just buy a vial from a lab tech from the USSR.

Some rural area in Pakistan would be a good place to conduct a field trial, IMHO. But no, people like Tommy Tompsom have told us we have nothing to fear, and he has everything under control.

[aruanan]

It's not smallpox. The last case was seen in 1980. It's something similar. This would be huge news.

You and Dog Gone are both too rationalist for your own good. The correct response would have been: "Smallpox is said to have been eradicated. If the current reports are true, then either the previous assertion was faulty or smallpox has been reintroduced to the human population."

By the way, just because a human chain of transmission of the disease had been purportedly broken (last naturally-occurring case was in 1977 in Somalia and there were two cases in 1978 from laboratory exposure in England; it was declared eradicated in 1979) doesn't mean that every organism of this disease has been eradicated from the world. If the coffin were as securely nailed shut as you appear to think it is, there wouldn't be any necessity for all this at the CDC.

[sweetliberty]

I have seen pictures of victims of smallpox and have had first hand experience with chickenpox. It is hard for me to imagine that one could be mistaken for the other past the earliest stages.

"The incubation period for smallpox ranges from 7-to-17 days (usually 12-to-14 days), which is relatively long for a viral illness. Initial symptoms consist of high fevers, malaise, headache, and backache, followed by the appearance of small raised red spots (maculopapular rash) that begin inside the mouth and on the face and forearms, then spread sequentially to the legs and trunk. The skin lesions evolve into small blisters, then pustules. Scabs develop, which eventually separate, leaving pitted scars. In its early stages, the rash may resemble that of chickenpox, with two key differences. (1) In smallpox, the lesions are densest on the face and outermost extremities, whereas in varicella, the greatest number of lesions are on the trunk. (2) In smallpox, all lesions are at the same stage of development, whereas in varicella, the lesions are at different stages of evolution, i.e. some may be blisters while others are scabbing."

[OReilly]

All those billions of dollars and we still worry about this stuff!

I sure hope someone has spent some time and money thinking about how easy it would be to let an aerosol of orthopoxvirus get sucked into the air return at a Hub like Atlanta and then wait 12 days for the widely distributed Marys to have done their job.

[OReilly]

In smallpox, the lesions are densest on the face and outermost extremities

Anyone wearing a veil in an airport and coughing like on that TV commercial for some investment firm "Take a sickday pal" can expect a cool reception from me.

[bonesmccoy]

If my memory is correct, the last case of smallpox to be diagnosed was in 1977 in Somalia. The World Health Organization or CDC websites has reports on this.

This report from dawn.com is unlikely to be correct. A reporter is simply parroting a story from a villager. No physicians appear to be involved in the story. This appears to really be an attempt to get the Pakistani government to mobilize some public health support to this area.

It is unlikely that it is smallpox. The report describes two brothers having "smallpox" several "years" ago. If that was the case, then wild type small pox would exist and be transmitted in Pakistan for the last several years. There should be hundreds of cases identified by Pakistani WHO workers.

If this is a case of smallpox, the WHO failed to do their job (monitoring for infectious diseases in the third world).

[spetznaz]

Smallpox has been eradicated, so this must be something else. If it truly was smallpox, this would be front page headlines around the entire world.

When i saw the headline of this article i was about to panic and go into hysterics...however i sat down and wondered 'how come this thing was not breaking news?' Think about it...the re-emergence of small pox as an epidemic would probably be the biggest news event in almost two decades due to the severe ramifications!

That is when i disregarded the article as fake!

[spetznaz]

I witnessed small pox in the Afghans. There is nothing so horrific to see as a 2 year old child with small pox. I believe that the UN and health officials in the US have known all along that samll pox reoccuring was a definite possiblity

When did you observe this case of SmallPox in the Afghan region? And were you certain it was the actual virus, not some less malignant smallpox wannabe dudu!

The reason i ask is if you saw the case anytime after the late seventies then that is very dire indeed.

I would appreciate if you told me that you were absolutely sure of what you saw! Very appreciative!

[Cindy]

SMALLPOX Articles:YAHOO! News - FULL COVERAGE: "SMALLPOX"

AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: "SMALLPOX"

JAMA: "SMALLPOX"

www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus: "MEDLINEplus: SMALLPOX"

UPI.com: "MONKEYPOX COULD BE USED AS BIOWEAPON" (060902)

ARABIA.com (AFP): "SADDAM URGES IRAQI SCIENTISTS TO THWART BAGHDAD'S 'ENEMIES'" (052702)

ISLAM-ONLINE.com: "THE IRAQI BIOWEAPON: THE CAMEL" by Hwaa Irfan (052302)

WASHINGTON TIMES.com (AP): "CDC STARTS TO FIGHT SMALLPOX AS WEAPON" (060202)

BBC News: "SMALLPOX IMMUNITY WARNING" (052902)

[Lower55]

corn pops??

[Centurion2000]

bump ..... something for future review and something to pay attention to.

[ecru]

The Smallpox Report... Scenario #1 Reporter looking for breaking story. Hears about some kind of "pox" on children in region, wants to expose how unfair gov't is to helping poor people. Confuses "Chicken" with "Small"...unintentionally causes creepy thread on FR boards with misinformation.

Scenario #2 Someone finds report in local section of Pakistani paper, CDC notified, CDC on plane _right now_ checking situation out. Noone allowed to report on situation till confirmation confirmationally confirmed.

Scenario #3 Big Government Conspiracy Coverup.

[OReilly]

Scenario #1 Reporter looking for breaking story. Hears about some kind of "pox" on children in region, wants to expose how unfair gov't is to helping poor people. Confuses "Chicken" with "Small"...unintentionally causes creepy thread on FR boards with misinformation.

I understand why CDC personnel would not comment further till more information available. But if this is such a disaster in the making, one would think that Dawn, the largest English language paper in Pakistan, would be deluged with questions and would have the good grace to say something in the interim.

It is Monday night over there and not a word on the web site. This must have been reported before and found to be nothing by those who would have investigated it.

[Black Agnes]

Don't necessarily even have to get the smallpox from one of the cold storage labs either. There is historical evidence of infection from excavation of a mass grave of smallpox victims 100 years previous. Lots of those countries that hate us have had even more recent infections. If the bodies were buried in a mass grave and not cremated, they have plenty of smallpox of their own, all they need is a shovel.

[Hoppean]

Smallpox has been eradicated, so this must be something else. If it truly was smallpox, this would be front page headlines around the entire world.

Just heard about this on Alex Jones' show. Would they tell us on the front page?

[Cascadians]

Here's another FReeper thread about this, with info about another "outbreak" of "smallpox" in India, interesting:

SWABI: Smallpox epidemic spreading in Swabi