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I missed something here, why do you think people have already been infected with smallpox? Doesn't the "pox" on your arm (from an old vaccination), get irritated if it's reintroduced to smallpox?

"Yeah. Everything you said is true. But if smallpox is already incubating in our population, we can only deal with what IS, not what will be next summer, or what habits we WISH our government had concerning epidemics."

Not really is, but may be. We MAY have already come under attack with smallpox. If so, (and assuming Halloween was the day) the earliest we'd know about will be Nov. 7th or so, and if Nov. 21 comes along with no cases, we probably were NOT, at least on that date.

Depending on which sources you read, there is some argument about when smallpox becomes contaigous; before symptoms appear, or after. After would be better. Before is way bad.

As far as I'm aware, there is no reaction to rexposure by the old vaccination site. Ask your doctor, he may know otherwise. (and we may either of us be wrong in any case.)

The basic assumption here is: If it did happen, what would you do about it? Some time to think about it in advance will give you a better chance of doing the right thing if it becomes necessary. Contingency planning.