[mathluv]

I heard that the smallpox from Russia might not be preventable from the immunization that is availabe. Is this idea from Richard Preston's book "Demon in the Freezer"? I also heard something similar to this - probably on Fox. I seldom watch anything else.

[Gritty]

I heard that the smallpox from Russia might not be preventable from the immunization that is availabe.

Apparently the Soviets did a lot of research on recombinants of smallpox and have weaponized extremely lethal variants. Whether the "normal" vaccinia vaccination would cover the new variants is probably questionable because the variants are re-engineered with other diseases, such as ebola. Who knows if the immune antibodies will react to these different threats, who no doubt have different signatures?

There is a discussion of it in this article THE BIOWEAPONEERS.