Smallpox shot infects soldier's toddler son

[Cadfael]

---Boy critically ill; mom also stricken

In the first case of its kind in years, a 2-year-old boy is being treated in Chicago for a rare and life-threatening infection that he contracted from his father, a U.S. Army soldier recently vaccinated against smallpox.

The Indiana boy is in critical condition with eczema vaccinatum, an unusual side effect of the smallpox vaccine that can affect people who receive the shot or their close contacts.---<snip>




http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0703170122mar17,0,8867.story?coll=chi-news-hed

[blondie58]

1. how sad

and yet another result of Bush's war.

[fed-up]

2. let's not forget the * admin wanted to give this shot to EVERYONE

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/092402_biowarfare_cdc_plan.html

Biowarfare: CDC Issues Plan
for Mass Smallpox Vaccinations

Questions Raised on MEHPA
and Microbiologist Deaths

by Joe Taglieri and Michael C. Ruppert

<©Copyright 2002, From The Wilderness Publications, www.copvcia.com. All Rights Reserved. May be distributed, reposted on the internet or distributed for non-profit purposes only>



Sept. 24, 2002, 19:00 PDT (FTW) - Federal officials today released a plan instructing states to deliver smallpox vaccinations should an outbreak occur due to a terrorist attack.

The plan details how states can inoculate up to one million people in 10 days after confirming only a single smallpox infection in the entire nation. Medical professionals, academics and state health officials have expressed doubts about the effectiveness, timing and costs of the plan issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Dr. Len Horowitz, a healthcare researcher who recently authored a book on deadly viruses, noted the possibility of the Bush Administration using a biological attack to further an agenda of suppressing civil liberties.

"This is standard Machiavellian theory in practice," said Horowitz. "These political and public health problems are created to effect outcomes that have been prepared for in advance and are consistent with economic, political and ideological orientations consistent with population control, better known as genocide. In summary, it is managed chaos and very deadly."

According to press reports, the CDC's plan does not specifically say what kind of attack would warrant a nationwide vaccination program, nor does it specify who would issue the decision to begin one.

The CDC's vaccination guide also neglects to address the "vexing and politically delicate issue" of whether to vaccinate emergency personnel or public health workers, the New York Times reported. Health and human services secretary Tommy G. Thompson expects a decision from the White House on this by the end of September.

According to the Washington Post, the number of medical personnel to be vaccinated ranges from 20,000, as recommended by one CDC advisory panel, to another proposal's call for 500,000.

The plan does specify 75 million doses of the vaccine in the U.S. stockpile are to be delivered in one day and 280 million doses within one week.

It also provides guidelines for maintaining security and order at clinics in the event of an unruly, panic-stricken crowd, and advises on location and transportation issues. Busses or subways might transport people to shopping malls or sports arenas for vaccination, according to the CDC guide.

[enlightenment]

3. fed-up - just a question, not a criticism --

Are you old enough to have received the smallpox vaccine as a child? This is an extremely unfortunate incident, and perhaps has something to do with a newer/different version of the vaccine (I don't know and perhaps that's what the article you quote is concerned with) - but the idea of vaccinating against smallpox is hardly new.

[Gormy Cuss]

5. Eczema vaccinatum has long been associated with smallpox vaccination

It happened rarely, but it did occur. More common was the development of a sort of mini outbreak at the vaccination site. It happened to me.I have a scar that's about the size of a quarter and apparently I had flu-like symptoms for some time after getting inoculated.

[hedgehog]

8. I can remember as a kid getting vaccinated and then having to keep towels and clothing away from

my little brother until the vaccination healed. He had severe eczema and the doctor wouldn't risk vaccinating him. It wasn't a problem for us, but then my mother is a nurse.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. I grew up in the era of routine smallpox vaccinations

(1950s), and I got a reaction on one of those occasions. It was like a case of the flu.

[Miss Chybil]

16. I don't remember any reaction, but I got the vaccine as well. Along with

every other kid I ever knew.

[hedgehog]

6. Check out the book Vaccine by Arthur Allen.

I thought that all the fuss over side effects from smallpox vaccinations was a lot of hooey until I read this book. It turns out that there are a number of side effects associated with the smallpox vaccination. The vaccination itself leaves a pock that can be a source of infection for other people if not properly cared for. There was a smallpox outbreak in NYC in the late 40's. In the ensuing panic, everyone got vaccinated. It turned out that the people who'd actually been exposed had been isolated at the very beginning and there were more people hospitalized from vaccination complications than from smallpox itself. Later on, as the worldwide campaign to wipe out small pox was winding down, the procedure was to vaccinate the contact ring around smallpox patients rather than to attempt mass vaccination.

A century ago, smallpox vaccine was poorly regulated and the vaccine itself might be ineffective at best or contaminated with other bacteria and viruses at worst. I suspect that's where a lot of the modern mistrust of vaccines originated. Still, if there were a small pox outbreak and I was exposed, I'd get the vaccine because with all its problems, it's still better than getting small pox. Vaccinating a large n\umber of people in the absence of any real exposure is another story entirely.

Remember Bush's campaign to vaccinate health care workers? The nurses across America took a good look at the actual risks vs. known side effects and quietly killed that idea by refusing vaccination one by one by one.

[colorado_ufo]

30. Very true.

I actually received the vaccine at least four times! The first couple of times, the doctors thought that it didn't "take," because I had no visible reaction (inflammation, scarring, etc.) from the vaccine. (I later found out that, years ago, my mother's younger brother had the same non-reaction, even though he was repeatedly vaccinated. The doctors finally assumed that he had a natural resistance to the disease; possibly I do, also.)

In the past, it was occasionally also used as a treatment for other conditions (something rarely mentioned). At one time about 32 years ago, for reasons unknown (stress?), I had several miserable outbreaks of canker sores within a two year period. They were resistant to any kind of treatment, and I was really in pain. Then a friend told me that she had suffered the same thing but that the doctor cleared it with a smallpox vaccination! I went to my local (small town) doctor and requested the vaccine for that purpose. He was skeptical, but wonder of wonders, the condition cleared within a couple of days! It recurred the following year, and another vaccination cleared it again. Then, it never returned.

Mind over matter? Who knows. Would I recommend this to everyone? Definitely not! But it is a curiosity and perhaps worth filing away in the "Desperate Treatments" file. (Note that there are some conditions, such as chemotherapy, which can produce mouth sores, etc. This absolutely would be contraindicated as a treatment in these circumstances or for anyone with a compromised immune system.)

[JerseygirlCT]

32. I had it as a child, and then again before my family moved to

the middle east -- I was probably late teens then. (So I have a matching set of scars, lol).

No adverse effects at all. And no smallpox, either, which is a very good thing.

I think this is a very rare side effect. I wonder if the soldier had been warned about the effects and that it could be a problem for his family?

[madrchsod]

4. there is no reason to give smallpox shots to anyone

the terrorist link is pure bullshit.

[hedgehog]

9. Just to clarify things; the small pox isn't exactly a shot.

A small cut is made on the arm and then the vaccine is scraped across it. The site normally scabs over. It turns my stomach just remembering it.

[TahitiNut]

34. Yep. As I recall, it was a vial that was broken and the edge used to scratch the arm.

When I got mine, as a kid in the 50s, they fumble-fingered the first try and (fearing it wouldn't take) gave me a second snap-scratch. To this day, I have a scar that's about the size of a quarter. I wore a bandage on my arm for a couple of weeks, as I recall ... and it ITCHED. I was also ill for about a week - it felt like the flu.

[MonkeyFunk]

10. Umm..

except for smallpox.

[mzmolly]

17. Which has been eradicated for nearly 30 years.

:shrug:

[colorado_ufo]

31. Not. quite. gone.

It is entirely possible that the virus still exists in some world governments' warfare stockpiles and/or for research purposes. Also, with continual climate warming, we need to be very wary of a resurgence of diseases once thought eradicated.

[Javaman]

37. Check out the book "Demon in the freezer"...

it's written by the same guy who wrote "Hot Zone".

The long and short of it is: most small pox vaccines are worthless. All people who were vaccinated as a kid way back when aren't immune to a small pox outbreak AND those who decide to get a new vaccination should do some research. They will quickly realize that the current vaccination will loose potency after 3 DAYS. After which they will become as vulnerable as the next person who didn't get a shot.

Sooooooooo, if you want to get a shot, get one as late as possible if there is an out break, because more than likely if there ever is another one, it will be man made and the shot will give you a 50-50 chance of survival. Reason being that if it is man made it will be of a variety that there is no existing vaccination that exists for the general population. And the shot you get will have the "cowpox" variation in it and will offer you some protection. Some.

But also remember, even though smallpox will kill in large numbers it's also survivable. Had a great aunt in Italy that survived it.

As someone else mentioned on this thread, small pox wasn't eradicated. Officially, there are "two" samples left, but since the disease was finally "eradicated" in Bangladesh, there were countless samples that went unaccounted for all over the world from that outbreak that were never officially destroyed.

During the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a report issued regarding the safe guarding of the Russian sample by the CDC. Sadly, the Russian sample was stored in a leaky, poorly refrigerated storage unit along with several other disease samples in which the labels had fallen off.

Currently research into the disease and the possible manufacture of versions of it are in current development by the U.S. military, yet no one will officially comment on it.

Smallpox has been described as the most horrible disease ever to hit humanity.

[HereSince1628]

11. That was my first thought too.

"http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/smallpox/en/

<Much snipping>

Through the success of the global eradication campaign, smallpox was finally pushed back to the horn of Africa and then to a single last natural case, which occurred in Somalia in 1977. A fatal laboratory-acquired case occurred in the United Kingdom in 1978. The global eradication of smallpox was certified, based on intense verification activities in countries, by a commission of eminent scientists in December 1979 and subsequently endorsed by the World Health Assembly in 1980."

<much more snipping>

[MilesColtrane]

20. It would seem insane to try to target a specific country's population.

Since smallpox vaccinations for the general population have ceased any outbreak would be all over the world quickly.

But, then again, strapping on a bomb and blowing yourself up just to take out a few people seems insane to me also.

Soviet defectors have confirmed that the SU was stockpiling the smallpox virus; something on the order of 20 tons.

[hedgehog]

35. I remember reports predating the Bush mis-administration, and 20

tons is the number used. 20 tons of virus? Talk about overkill.

Here's the scary part - a lot of the leftovers were buried on islands in the Aral Sea so no wild animal could ever get to them. Those aren't islands anymore!

[kath]

26. Ahhh, but Grasshopper, TERRA,TERRA, TERRA, FEAR, FEAR, FEAR is

the mother's milk of this administration.

How else would they have been so successful at trashing our Constitution?

[knitter4democracy]

7. That's why Hubby didn't get the shot.

My two kids and I would be very likely to get that side effect, according to his research, so he didn't get the shot. It worries me a little, since he'd have to go in for a Code Black, but he could get the shot then.

[mzmolly]

18. It's good he researched it on his own.

I'm glad he had a choice as well.

[knitter4democracy]

21. Yes, the residency program director was nice about it.

Many of the residents turned it down after 9/11. One guy's son has worse allergies and asthma than our two, and another doc's wife is practically crippled with hers. My eczema is a constant thing, so I'm at high risk of having a problem with the vaccine, especially considering that my mom did when she was young.

[kestrel91316]

13. The sad thing is, this appears to have been completely avoidable.

The child was already known to have eczema, a known risk factor for this problem. People who get the smallpox vaccine are cautioned to have no physical contact with persons in the risk group.

Did the father ignore medical advice??? I'd say that is highly probable. People ignore the medical advice I give them about their pets with astonishing regularity, and then wonder why it got sick/sicker.

[mzmolly]

15. We don't know if anyone was "cautioned" or not.

I'd say it's highly probable he had about 60 seconds with the personal who injected him and no mention was ever made verbally about the possible issues surrounding the vaccine?

[kestrel91316]

19. I'm more inclined to think he was given written precautions

and then just tossed the paper without looking at it.

People ignore medical advice with SHOCKING frequency.

[mzmolly]

14. Seems to me the vaccine risks may outweigh the benefits in our current climate?

The disease is said to have been eradicated since 1980.

Oh this is interesting: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave emergency authorization for the hospital to treat the boy with ST-246, an experimental drug for smallpox that is untried as a therapy in humans.

So the gumment essentially gives a poor kid smallpox, then tries out a new drug to combat it?

It's unclear why the father was allowed to have contact with his son, who had a history of eczema, shortly after the vaccination. The skin condition is a well-known risk factor for eczema vaccinatum, and official guidelines warn that people with eczema should avoid contact with vaccinees.

How many people were made aware of this before the jab?

Experts said they knew of no cases of eczema vaccinatum since at least 1990, when the military last had a program of smallpox vaccination. :eyes:

Gosh, you think the "experts" might have clued into the fact this was a risk once "again" no? My guess is this family was never informed about the potential dangers.

My thoughts/prayers are with this poor family.

[sanskritwarrior]

22. There is a lot of misinfo in this thread

I got my smallpox shot in January 2003 sitting in the Kuwaiti desert.......This is how it happens for all soldiers....

You go to the TMC (troop medical clinic) or local post hospital. You sign several forms, including a waiver, and a form acknowledging that you understand what you are doing.

You watch 2 videos on what smallpox is, how it infects you and then what the vaccine does. How the vaccine is administered and how to keep your family safe while you are in the contagious stage.

You take off your BDU, now ACU top, you roll up your brown T-shirt and a stick pin is dipped into the the smallpox jar by a gloved technician.

The technician sticks your left arm with the needle about one to two inches below your shoulder blade 5-10 times. very similar to getting a hand made tattoo put on. If you do not have a positive reaction to the needle within one week you come back and they give you 15 sticks......or more.

Now as for this soldier, the first 10 days the pustule is forming and is not a danger, if one keeps it covered, keeps it clean and disposes of any clothing that comes into contact with an unbandaged sore, then infection of family members is nigh impossible.......

So far 1 million plus american service personnel have received this shot and is this the first or second infection????

As for me my scar is really small, I'm due again in 5 more years 2 years before my 20 years in the Army are up........

[medeak]

25. God bless you for your service...

but many of us have problems with vaccines. I spent three months in a hospital in kidney failure before they finally diagnosed the problem after two exploratory surgeries...

Also have worked in health care sales.... believe me.. you have no idea what whores the pharmaceuticals make us.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

23. Regardless of who is "at fault", I hope this story gets passed along...

Maybe it will save a life.

[medeak]

24. how about those mandated vaccines for girls?

to prevent cervical cancer? Good ol Merck..like yeah...we'll trust you for that one!

This boy is going to lose 20% of his skin.

My parents went through hell proving that I was allergic to penicillin and couldn't be immunized for polio in school...

was ostracized at school..they didn't know what the hell to do with me on shot day.

[depakid]

28. What does an allergy to penicillin have to do with immunization?

:shrug:

[medeak]

29. polio vaccine n/t

[Bridget Burke]

38. What does penicillin allergy have to do with polio vaccine?

Just wondering.

[Ms. Toad]

42. Some varieties of the polio vaccines used to include penicillin

to ensure no bacteria was accidentally transmitted along with the vaccine.

(They apparently no longer do, since other antibiotics which are less likely to trigger allergic reactions are now fairly readily available.)

[Bridget Burke]

43. When?

From a pediatric site:

"No vaccine contains penicillin or penicillin-related antibiotics. This type of allergy is not a reason to miss any vaccine."

www.drgreene.org/body.cfm?xyzpdqabc=0&id=21&action=detail&ref=522

[Ms. Toad]

44. At least in the mid-50s

At least in the mid 1950s in the US (http://www.whale.to/a/mcbean5.html - search the page for "penicillin in polio,")

Apparently still, in the UK.

>>If you are allergic to certain antibiotics (penicillin, neomycin, polymyxin, or streptomycin) you should inform the doctor or nurse before you receive any medication. Unless the sensitivity is extreme to any of these, it need not contraindicate using the vaccine.<< http://www.medinfo.co.uk/immunisations/polio.html

As allergies/sensitivities have increased, pharmaceutical companies have migrated to components which are less likely to cause unwanted reactions (removal of thimersol, substitution of other antibiotics for penicillin/related antibiotics, less reliance on egg proteins, etc.). In the US, with penicillin, that migration occurred sometime between 1956 and the present - sorry but I don't know when.

[Ms. Toad]

33. Ding-ding-ding!

But didn't you know that it's just a vaccination, not a medicine, so we don't need any long term studies or more data? :sarcasm:

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I am glad that there are two stories related to vaccinations that have surfaced this close to the HPV vaccination discussions.

I am NOT advocating for or against individual decisions to get any particular vaccination - but I am tired of being accused of being anti-science or a right wing nut because I don't believe that all vaccinations should be mandatory - particularly those recently developed with minimal long term data.

(Of course, these stories - smallpox and chicken pox were - were created by the anti-science and right wing nut crowd just at this particular time to justify their resistance to this evil HPV vaccination. The "suspicious" timing has already been hinted at in the chicken pox thread. :) )

[rinsd]

40. Wanna know why is likely you're called anti-science?

Because you attempt to link two different things using emotion as the basis.

You throw around words about long terms studies then insinuate because two stories showing rarities dealing with vaccines that somehow invalidates vaccination as an effective tool against disease.

You rely on fear and that is why it is likely people call you anti-science.

[Ms. Toad]

41. Nonsense.

What the two stories illustrate is that scientists don't know everything about how the immune system works, and about the consequences (both personal and societal) of tinkering with it to create short lasting, artificially created immunity.

The chicken pox research is not a rarity - it is part of the process of discovering the long term implications of a relatively new vaccine - a very necessary part of the research process. The chicken pox vaccination apparently doesn't create long term immunity, it may change the nature of the disease (making it more dangerous because it delays the age of contracting it), it may create secondary outbreaks later in life (shingles), it may have unintended consequences on those around the vaccinated person (triggering shingles in those who previously had chicken pox, or infecting individuals with weakened immune systems with chicken pox). Some of those effects we could have expected and adapted for when the vaccination was introduced - others not. If we continue to wear the rose colored "all vaccinations are inherently good" glasses we might never learn what those unexpected long term consequences might be.

Some things show up only years after we start implementing vaccinations. As wards of the state, my future siblings were guinea pigs for the first MMR vaccinations. At that time, and when they were first mandated, everyone expected the immunity created to last a lifetime. My siblings were among the first to know that the expectations were wrong - fortunately they did not learn the expectations were wrong as a consequence of contracting rubella while pregnant.

What we now know is that the vaccine created childhood immunity to rubella wears off around the time that women reach childbearing age. Since at least part of the reasoning for mandating the rubella vaccination is the danger contracting maternal rubella poses to unborn children, it might make sense to rethink how that vaccine is used. It might make more sense to make it mandatory for entry into middle school or high school rather than kindergarten. That way the peak immunity would cover a bigger chunk of the childbearing years.

As another example, HiB is an illness that primarily impacts day-care children (both by age and transmission vector). The risk is virtually zero by the time the child reaches kindergarten. The vaccination is currently mandatory in many states for entry into kindergarten. Mandating it for entry into day care in the toddler years may make sense. Mandating it for kindergarten exposes children to a risk it is unnecessary to take. (If any post kindergarten parent wants their child immunized - fine with me, but I don't think from a societal perspective mandating kindergarten vaccination for the HiB bacteria for children who have not had the vaccination by that age is an appropriate balancing of the risks.)

On the other hand, some, like polio and smallpox (in the 60s) prevented devastating illnesses, and mandatory immunization virtually wiped both illnesses from the face of the earth. Even though we had little long term data at the time the vaccinations were made mandatory, in my opinion the personal and societal risks of the illnesses far outweighed the, then, not completely known risks of immunization.

What I am suggesting that we need to use a little common sense and not insist that every new vaccination be made mandatory. Some should be (particularly those preventing illnesses which are devastating - or particularly contagious). Others shouldn't be - or mandatory implementation should at least be delayed until after more long term data is available. I put the HPV vaccination and chicken pox in this category. They should be available - but not mandated at this point. Suggesting a measured approach, based on balancing long term data and/or the availability of long term data, the relative risk of the illnesses sought to be prevented (including both personal and societal risks), and age of peak risk (among other things) is hardly anti-science. None of this reasoning relies on fear and, FWIW, I think my 3 science/math degrees pretty much takes me out of the realm of anti-science.

I just find it very sad and frustrating that we cannot have reasoned discussions on the subject of vaccinations without the pro-vaccination crowd accusing anyone who is not 100% in favor of making every new vaccination mandatory of being anti-science or a fear monger. There are valid, non-fear, science based reasons for adopting a more measured approach. Having that discussion shouldn't be off limits - and shouldn't require that I put up with being called names.

[buddysmellgood]

27. The CDC approved an emergency dose of SIGA-246 for this boy. It is likely

saving his life. This drug, not a vaccine, is in its second phase of human safety testing. It has provided complete protection in animals. The child must have been in very bad shape for an emergency use of an unapproved drug to be used. If SIGA-246 works, it will mean that smallpox will not be an effective bioterror weapon.
If we knew where all the smallpox samples were, we wouldn't have to worry about this. But we don't.

[hedgehog]

36. For a while, the Soviets were storing smallpox in an unlocked

freezer in Moscow. Who knows where it is today? Reviewing what I've read on this subject, I'd have to say the Soviet bio warfare people were neck and neck with George Bush on flabbergasting stupidity!

[Eugene]

39. US toddler improving on experimental smallpox drug

US toddler improving on experimental smallpox drug
19 Mar 2007 21:58:40 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO, March 19 (Reuters) - An experimental pill appears to be helping a
toddler who had a near-fatal skin reaction to his father's smallpox shot,
doctors said on Monday.

The drug, an antiviral made by Siga Technologies <SIGA.O> called ST-246,
worked when more conventional treatment failed, the doctors said.

The 2-year-old, still in critical condition at the University of Chicago's Comer
Children's Hospital, developed the rare serious reaction called eczema
vaccinatum after being with his father, a soldier vaccinated for deployment
in Iraq.

"He's making slow improvement every day. He's still in the pediatric intensive
care unit," said Dr. John Marcinak, pediatric infectious disease specialist at
the hospital.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19537391.htm