(CIDRAP News) Two studies announced by federal health officials today suggest that modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA), a weakened form of the conventional smallpox vaccine, could provide a safer way to provide smallpox immunity to people at risk for complications from the standard vaccine.
(CIDRAP News) Complications of smallpox vaccination, such as cardiac inflammation and spreading of vaccinia virus to others, remain relatively rare after close to 600,000 vaccinations of US military personnel over the past year.
(CIDRAP News) A recent case of vaccinia virus transmission from a soldier to his wife and then to their breast-feeding baby suggests a need for greater precautions by smallpox vaccine recipients and breast-feeding mothers who live together, according to a case report published this week.
Dec 31, 2002 (CIDRAP News) Individuals receiving smallpox vaccine should wait 3 weeks before donating blood, according to guidance issued yesterday by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The recommendations are being issued as a precautionary measure to reduce the "very slight risk" of bloodborne exposure to vaccinia virus in certain patient populations, according to the agency.
(CIDRAP News) The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced details of how the compensation program for civilians who are injured by the smallpox vaccine will work.
(CIDRAP News) – A combination of vaccines that included smallpox and anthrax might have contributed to the death of a young Army reservist last April, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced today.
(CIDRAP News) Recent figures from the US Department of Defense (DoD) indicate a higher rate of myopericarditis (heart inflammation) cases among military personnel following smallpox vaccination than previously reported, though the complication remains relatively rare.
(CIDRAP News) A team of researchers in St. Louis has retooled a mousepox virus so it can defeat a vaccine that normally protects micebut has also found ways to beat the customized virus, according to the group's leader.
(CIDRAP News) To bring coherence to a poorly coordinated national effort, the United States should focus its current bioterrorism preparedness program on four specific threat scenarios involving anthrax, smallpox, botulinum toxin, and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), according to a report by defense consultant and former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig.
(CIDRAP News) Some of the world's leading experts on biological weapons and public health will meet in Geneva, Switzerland, Oct 21 and 22 for an international conference on the threat of a bioterrorist attack involving smallpox.
