Posted on 10/20/2001 8:13:07 PM PDT by Davea
UN's smallpox terror alert
War on Terrorism: Observer special
Anthony Browne, health editor
Sunday October 21, 2001
The Observer
Governments around the world have been warned to prepare against a terrorist smallpox attack which could kill millions. The World Health Organisation has told them to ensure they can produce enough vaccine to protect their population against the disease, and is preparing to order mass precautionary vaccination of all citizens. 'The unthinkable is no longer unthinkable and we need to prepare for that,' said a spokesperson for the WHO, the United Nations' health agency. 'There has been a lot of concern about a smallpox outbreak. The numbers it would kill are scary.'
The British Government last week issued emergency guidance to health professionals on how to deal with an outbreak. The guidance, seen by The Observer, says smallpox is a serious threat because it is easily passed from person to person, has a fatality rate of up to 90 per cent, can kill in 48 hours, and few people have been vaccinated. 'In the event of a deliberate release, it is unlikely that single, mild cases will occur - it is more likely that clusters of moderate to severe disease will be seen.'
The WHO masterminded the eradication of smallpox in 1977 and since the early Eighties has advised governments not to vaccinate. Most under-40s in the UK have not been immunised.
Following the US anthrax attacks, which by last night had infected a reported 38 people, concern there about a smallpox outbreak is so high that it has ordered 300 million doses of the vaccine from Cambridge-based biotech company Acambis. Medical studies suggest that an out break in the US would kill around a million people in three months. The NHS has ordered supplies, but it is not thought to be enough to cover the population.
Last week, Gro Harlem Bruntland, the WHO's director-general, told its Smallpox Advisory Group to consider whether to tell all governments to go ahead with mass vaccination.
It is a devastating setback for the WHO, which considers the eradication of smallpox its greatest achievement. It is also not without danger, since vaccination can cause severe side-effects, including permanent brain damage, or even death.
After its eradication, the smallpox virus was kept in only two laboratories in the world - in Atlanta in the US, and Koltsovo in Siberia. The last two samples were due to be destroyed next year. However, a Soviet defector revealed that the dying Communist regime used smallpox in a missile programme.
There have also been allegations that supplies were sold to Iraq and North Korea.
Initial smallpox symptoms include fever, severe headache, back and chest pains and intense anxiety. Victims develop blotchy rashes, often with purple lesions, followed by a face rash similar to sunburn and severe scarring.
Death can take from 48 hours to two weeks. There is no treatment.
30% is bad enough, trust me.
The Guardian's fellow Communists were willing to murder millions to collect a few rubles. The Guardian and the Labour Party's past is so bankrupt that the Guardian has no choice but to try to morph along with Blair's New Labour con.
So would recovering from it even be worth it?
Sorry, one positive thing. They've contributed much misery, much hatred, massive starvation, torture, orphans, mass murders, etc. But what have they given to the world that worth while? Great Art? NO, great music, NO, great anything? NO. We're talking world class losers.
Let's face it, if these men didn't bully, beat, and threaten their women, they wouldn't even have wives. Pigs. Pigs, stupid egotistical pigs.
But the first confirmed smallpox case that goes public is going to cause some serious panic. The government will need to step in with a very firm hand to be sure that the few available doses of vaccine are reserved for those who actually have some slim chance of having been exposed, not wasted on those who are hysterical and scream the loudest.
The recent experience with cipro and anthrax is not very encouraging. We've generated serious cipro shortages based on nothing but doctors wrongly prescribing cipro for people who really needed valium, if you get what I mean.
Well I assume that small pox was wiped out because people were vaccinated in spite of the risks. If the present threat is that bad we will have to do vaccination again.
I remember getting my small pox vaccination. I barely got a scab and I have no scar. OTOH I've seen people with small pox vaccination scars that are like huge deep pits. I wonder why the difference. My dad always swore I had had cow pox and that's why my vaccination seemed like a dud. Kind of silly. I was never around cows as a kid.
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