Smallpox

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization's (WHO's) plan to build an international emergency stockpile of smallpox vaccine drew support from member countries at their recent annual meeting in Geneva.

The World Health Assembly (WHA) "welcomed progress on WHO's work to establish a global smallpox vaccine reserve," the WHO said in a statement during the meeting, which ended last week.

Editor's note: This story was revised shortly after publication to reflect corrections issued by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases on May 10. The corrections pertain to the total monetary amount of the grants and to the project descriptions for XOMA (US) LLC and DVC Dynport LLC.

(CIDRAP News) – In a recent study, some laboratory and public health workers who received smallpox shots reported several side effects that have not shown up in other studies, including joint and abdominal pain, backache, and breathing difficulty.

(CIDRAP News) – Poor policy communication and a lack of clearly defined goals seriously hindered the smallpox preparedness program that the federal government launched in 2003, according to a report released by the prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM) last week.

(CIDRAP News) – An intravenous form of vaccinia immune globulin (VIG), used to treat serious reactions to smallpox vaccine, has gained approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the first time.

(CIDRAP News) – A recent exercise that confronted international leaders with a hypothetical smallpox attack showed the potential for tensions between countries that have enough smallpox vaccine and those that don't, according to news reports.

(CIDRAP News) – Most states remain unprepared for a bioterrorist attack despite 3 years of federal focus on the issue, according to a report issued by a national nonprofit organization.

(CIDRAP News) – The United States is pledging 20 million doses of smallpox vaccine to a global stockpile managed by the World Health Organization (WHO), Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal researchers report they have succeeded in infecting monkeys with fatal smallpox, creating the first animal model of the disease for use in testing vaccines and treatments for humans.

(CIDRAP News) – The antiviral drug cidofovir is one of very few agents used to treat serious side effects of smallpox vaccination. In a recent study, a topical form of cidofovir worked better than an intravenous formulation to protect mice from the effects of vaccinia, the smallpox vaccine virus.