Smallpox "only" has a 30% mortality rate? Or is that the mortality rate for smallpox YEARS AGO? The fact is that no one is sure what the mortality rate for smallpox is right now, in an environment that hasn't seen the smallpox virus in 30 years. Kids don't play outside these days-- they sit inside watching TV and playing video games. They use antibacterial soap and sterile toys, and they might not build up as much immuno-defense as they need. We just don't know. As for the flu vaccine, I think anyone in a risk category needs it. For strong young healthy people, it might be a good idea to let your immune system handle some of these bugs and build immunity naturally.
I think that 30% was years ago. I think it also meant those who got the smallpox had a 30% death rate but many people didn't get smallpox then because they had immunity. There were also two kinds of smallpox --one variola major was very deadly, the other variola minor only killed about 1-2%. Variola minor prevented people from getting the worse kind. Agricultural people had exposure to cowpox which also provided immunity.
I think on one hand people today have better nourishment and hygiene......of course that doesn't prevent viruses like colds and flus and they hit clean people just as hard as they do dirty people. We might be a weaker kind of people in other ways because back in those days you probably had to be tough to even survive infancy from other diseases and we have more immune compromised people.
Smallpox "only" has a 30% mortality rate? Or is that the mortality rate for smallpox YEARS AGO? This is a very good point. We thought inhaled anthrax had a 90% fatality rate, but so far we've seen a better rate of survival.
We have antivirals now, and it will be interesting to see if they can be used.
I got chicken pox at the age of 42 and because of antivirals, I was sick for only 4 days. Years ago, an adult with chicken pox would have been very ill.
Plus, one of the factors of mortality in smallpox is secondary infection, when the blisters break. We have much stronger antibiotics now.
Let's just say this, if smallpox is unleashed on the US, and thus the world, America will handle the outbreak much better than the majority of other countries.