Smallpox?

[Dr. Evil]

> I would not count on the 18th century cowpox/smallpox coupling to be
> valid today - viruses evolve, and that's not counting deliberate
> manipulations intended to produce more virulent strains.

I was thinking about this some more, and I wonder if cowpox still
exists in the wild.  I know that all livestock in developed countries
receive certain vaccinations, and it would be logical for
cowpox/smallpox to be one of them.  Hmm, this also makes me wonder: if
there is veterinary vaccine for *pox, could it be safe and effective
for humans, or easily adapted for human use?  Trivia buffs: The word
vaccine comes from the Latin word vacca, meaning cow (vache in
French).

> Bottom line is: so long as anybody has this stuff in stock it is
> criminal not to make the vaccine available, and I applaud efforts to

Um, I must correct you: Someone has it in stock, and it would be a
criminal offense (in the US) to make it available, I would imagine.

> obtain some level of immunity. There is of course a risk of adverse
> reactions from vaccinations, but as I understand it nobody who has
> been vaccinated without trouble in the past should expect any from
> future boosters or revaccination - the only risk is in initial
> vaccination, so we oldtimers who traveled before the WHO declaration
> of victory have nothing to lose by revaccination.

That may or may not be correct.  If you could vaccinate an old-timer
with exactly the same preparation as was used before it would be safe,
but there is a risk that any preparation could be contaminated with
something, so there is always some risk.  It could be very small
though.  The original vaccine was quite safe, and has been studied
exhaustively.  They have been vaccinating for smallpox since the
1800s.  Here is a woodblock print from Japan from circa 1850
advertising the smallpox vaccine:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol6no6/cover.htm.

> Each of us has the right to weigh for himself the risk of being
> vaccinated versus the risk of being accidentally or deliberately
> infected with the allegedly eradicated disease.

Sorry to have to shatter your world, Marc, but, in the US, you have
absolutely no right to weigh those risks for yourself.  The government
will make all those types of decisions for you.  What, did you think
you know what's best for yourself?  That's un-American.  I bet you
also think that you are responsible for your own safety in general?

> PS. The biotech lists are full of stuff that might lead to the
> capability of producing effective vaccines without having stocks of
> the virus - something about cell-membrane proteins. Unfortunately my
> background is not adequate for understanding this material; perhaps
> somebody else on the list has the right PhD?

You could definitely make a protein vaccine for smallpox that wouldn't
involve any of the virus itself.  However... that is quite a project.
It would be much easier to use some non-human pox (cowpox, monkeypox,
whatever), or even use inactivated human pox.  Your neighbor gets the
pox, you collect some of the pus, and inactivate it, perhaps just by
drying it out or heating it a little, and you have an instant
vaccine.  The reason why smallpox is the first and only virus ever
erradicated from the wild is because the vaccine is quite easy.

I hope someone takes up this project in some non-US country, but I
doubt anyone will.  I know it would sell well to Americans right now
if someone did.