Here we go again, with reporters using the word “smallpox” over and over in a story about a kid with a vaccinia infection. At least they did manage to slip the correct name into the story.
Tests could prove soldier as smallpox link
LAWTON — A child who came into a Lawton emergency room with a strange rash likely contracted a strain of smallpox from a recently vaccinated Fort Sill soldier.
Test results are pending with the State Department of Health, but officials say the patient probably contracted the vaccinia virus, a milder form of smallpox used in vaccinations, from a Fort Sill soldier who had recently been inoculated for the disease, said Kristy Bradley, state epidemiologist.
The patient came into the emergency room at the Southwestern Medical Center on Tuesday with a widespread rash on the face, neck, trunk and limbs, Bradley said. Initially, the patient was isolated from other patients until doctors could determine the child did not have other symptoms of smallpox.
Do reporters even go to school? Vaccinia and variola are two different viruses, and vaccinia infection is not a mild form of smallpox. In fact, technically the smallpox vaccine is just a vaccinia vaccine. How hard is it for reporters to get it straight? Oh well, these are probably the same people who demand antibiotics for a cold.
UPDATE: Looks like tests for vaccinia and chicken pox came back negative. It definitely wasn’t smallpox, but what it was may never be known.
Filed under: health, infectious disease, medicine, stupidity
Will the new smallpox vaccine be based on the vaccinia virus or the smallpox virus? Will it be infectious and a threat to those with immune system problems like the current vaccine?
Short answers – 1. vaccinia, and 2. no!
The Bavarian Nordic IMVAMUNE smallpox vaccine is a live, modified vaccinia virus which does not replicate in the host but does stimulate an immune response. There’s more info near the end of my post here or of course the BN site here.