THE DEMON IN THE FREEZER

New Yorker ^ | 7-12-99 | RICHARD PRESTON

[editor-surveyor]

"Why do you think it is fear mongering?"

Does anyone have smallpox?

With Anthrax, at least it is a common disease. - In agricultural areas we get about 100 cases per year, usually on the skin, but also a few respiratory cases from cattle trucks on the freeway, or rail cars.

But smallpox has not even been proven to be a legitimate hypothetical threat. - This is fear mongering.

[tallhappy]

You are misinformed. Small Pox is out there as a bio weapon. Does a terrorist have access? Don't know, but it is possible.

It's not worth fear mongering, though, because it is easy to avpid it, to stave off any potential use of it and that is to do what we used to do to everyone. Simply vaccinate.

[editor-surveyor]

It is you that are misinformed.

There is no evidence that there is any smallpox thread; it's all wild conjecture by agitators.

In the U.S. in the the 20th century, more people died from complications of vaccinations than from contagion. - That's a FACT.

[Kevin Curry]

In the U.S. in the the 20th century, more people died from complications of vaccinations than from contagion. - That's a FACT.

So? That is to be expected. If the vaccination is 95 percent effective preventing full scale infection among the general population, the only cases you will see are in the failed five percent. That doesn't mean the vaccination is more deadly than the disease. Quite the opposite.

[tallhappy]

In the U.S. in the the 20th century, more people died from complications of vaccinations than from contagion. - That's a FACT.

I am not sure how to respond because your comment is so off the wall.

Perhaps what you say is factual (I doubt it) but if so it is because vaccination was already commonplace before the 20th century.

I think you have deeper issues with questions of reality.

[aruanan]

Classic major kills one out of three people if they haven't been vaccinated or if they've lost their immunity.

But we all know that the big reduction in deaths due to small pox in all the different places in the world at different times was due to a coincident improvement in sanitation and not to vaccination. < /sarcasm> Ha ha ha ha ha.Think any of those anti-vaccine morons will be hosting any variola parties so their children can become immune to small pox the "natural" way?

[TomB]

LOL

Haven't seen too many anti-vaccination threads recently, have we? Although DaRocksMom tried to start one with a story about a soldier having a reaction to the Anthrax vaccine, but there were few takers.

Oh sweet serendipity.

I'm sure you know this, aruanan, and I'm not sure the article covered this, but I try to post this on every smallpox thread I see. The incubation period for smallpox is between 7-17 days (usually 12). After that you have a fever spike with intense and debilitating muscle pain. At this point the patient is usually bedridden, as it is hard to move. Only then, about 2-3 days later does the rash start to appear. And it is only at that time that the person becomes contagious.

This information makes the idea of containment a little easier to understand.

[aruanan]

This information makes the idea of containment a little easier to understand.

This is good to know. With the ease of communication these days, I think it would be much easier to contain. I seem to recall that even after exposure and maybe even after initial signs, a vaccination can have some degree of effectiveness in minimizing the severity of the disease.

[tallhappy]

bump

[SunkenCiv]

Slattery claims that smallpox was the culprit. Met the author online three, four, or five years ago; got this book for Christmas.

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[nickcarraway]

How did you do this? They won't let me post New Yorker articles?