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Hey, cidofovir looks promising for sure. However, it may not work. The FDA has approved its use for the treatment of CMV retinitis, NOT SMALLPOX. So the FDA believes it is relatively safe, under certain clinical conditions, and relatively effective, under certain clinical conditions, for the treatment of CMV retinitis. It will be VERY VERY DIFFICULT to work out if it's effective against smallpox, because (thankfully) no-one has the disease -- so there's no population on which to test it. Animal models are suggestive but far from conclusive -- plenty of drugs don't get through phase III trials (the big efficacy trials that do double-blinded tests on a big population). So a hint of caution may be in order.

Definitely caution - this would NOT be something one would want to do as a "precautionary measure". However, according to the Emedicine link " Cidofovir (Vistide)- A nucleoside analog DNA polymerase inhibitor; if administered within 48 h of exposure, may attenuate or avoid infection; adefovir, cidofovir, and ribavirin are under investigation for smallpox".

Since we have nothing better, and those who have been studying it have come up with suggested doses, it begs the question - will we be given the option to try cidofovir, considering that it's risks are - by all accounts - significantly lower than that of smallpox?