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Smallpox Vaccine Infects Soldiers Son

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  • Smallpox Vaccine Infects Soldiers Son

    I had no idea this was even possible

    Article Linked Here
    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.

    Doctors also said the boy appears to have passed the infection to his mother, who has a much milder case of the virus in the smallpox vaccine, which is also called vaccinia. The virus is not smallpox, though it is similar enough to offer protection from that deadly disease, which was declared eradicated in 1980.

    The mother and child are being treated at the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital, which withheld their names at the family's request. There is no infection risk for the general population, government officials say, since the vaccine virus can spread only through close physical contact.

    But the boy's diagnosis last week has prompted a frenzy of activity and daily conference calls involving the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the state and city public health departments. 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.

    The smallpox vaccine fell out of general use in the 1970s, but the case could be a lesson for the U.S. military, which has vaccinated 1.2 million personnel against smallpox since 2002 amid fears of bioterrorism.

    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.

    "We are looking into how this could have happened," said U.S. Army spokesman Paul Boyce.

    Officials say the general population could receive smallpox vaccinations in the event of a bioterrorist attack or other unforeseen exposure. For that reason, experts want to study the Indiana family to learn more about treatment and transmission of the vaccinia infection.

    "There certainly are also conceivable insights into smallpox infection," said Dr. Inger Damon, chief of the CDC's poxvirus and rabies branch. Damon has been involved in the daily conference calls on the boy's treatment.

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

    The vaccinia virus in modern smallpox vaccines is closely related to an older form of vaccinia called cowpox, the disease English doctor Edward Jenner used in the late 1700s to develop early methods of vaccination.

    Jenner relied on the observation that milkmaids who had cowpox seemed to be protected from later smallpox infection. He found that patients inoculated with material from cowpox sores also got protection from smallpox. That history is why the word vaccine stems from the Latin word for cow.

    Vaccinia was modified from its original form over the years but remains an infectious agent with the potential for side effects.

    The father of the Indiana boy received the vaccine in late January before a planned military deployment. The Army delayed his departure and permitted him to visit his family in mid-February.

    Two weeks later, a rash broke out on the boy's skin. He came to the U. of C. on March 3 after being transferred from St. Catherine's Hospital in East Chicago. Doctors first identified his widespread rash as a different form of eczema, but it worsened in his first few days at the U. of C.

    His mother developed sores after she and her son arrived at the Chicago hospital. Doctors believe she contracted the disease from the boy because of their lengthy close contact.

    A pediatric dermatologist, Dr. Sarah Stein, noticed the boy's lesions had changed to look like round blisters with a dimple in the middle--a potential sign of vaccinia infection. The medical team took scrapings from the lesions, which they analyzed and sent to the Illinois Department of Public Health's Chicago office for further testing.

    Rapid tests by the state and further tests at the CDC confirmed the boy had the vaccinia virus, officials at those agencies said. The hospital also sent the CDC photos of the boy's lesions.

    The hospital already was using infection precautions with the boy, but staffers then added such measures as gloves and face masks. They also placed the boy in a room with negative pressure so the air would always blow inward, keeping the virus inside.

    The boy's rash had spread to cover 80 percent of his body, said Dr. Madelyn Kahana, chief of pediatric intensive care medicine at the U. of C. He was going into sepsis, a devastating, systemwide infection rarely seen with viral cases.

    "In the later stages of [eczema vaccinatum], it can look like smallpox," said Damon of the CDC.

    The boy needed a ventilator to help his breathing because of the powerful pain medication he needed for the lesions.

    The boy received the primary treatment for eczema vaccinatum, a drug called vaccinia immune globulin, or VIG. The drug came from a stockpile the CDC keeps in case widespread vaccination ever becomes necessary.

    He also got an antiviral drug called cidofovir and the experimental drug ST-246, which has been shown to protect laboratory animals from exposure to smallpox. The drug recently entered preliminary human trials but had never been used in a sick patient.

    U. of C. officials said the boy has shown signs of improvement since hitting a low point last weekend. His mother's health was never in serious danger, but she has remained in his hospital room to keep others from being exposed. Health officials in Chicago and Indiana have tracked all of the family's contacts and found no additional cases so far.

    Kahana said the boy probably will lose 20 percent of his outer skin layer, but she hopes he will recover without the need for skin grafts. She believes the case should be a lesson to the military, which must educate service members about the risks of the vaccines it requires them to take.

    "I think the information simply wasn't disseminated properly or impressed in a manner that was understood," Kahana said, "because I don't think anyone would knowingly expose their child to this."
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  • #2
    Leave it to the military to vaccinate against something we are told was irradicated decades ago. Does this not sound fishy to anyone else?.

    Vaccines do have a use, but they are not with out risk, and in many cases people need booster shots throughout life. I don't like the idea of vaccinating newborns right out of the womb. Give the child a bit of time to develope an immune system before assaulting them with a battery of shots.
    If the disease is life threatening/ dibilitating, like polio, small pox, etc, vaccines make sence. Other diseases that kids can survive, but adults can be scarred for life, vaccines may not be such a good idea. Mumps as a child is no picknic, but an adult can be sterilized from the experience. Have the mumps as a child and that person is protected for life. Otherwise all it takes is to miss one of the boosters, get exposed, and "oh sheet!" Same for chicken pox.
    Removing a single turd from the cesspool doesn't make any difference.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by bonehead View Post
      Leave it to the military to vaccinate against something we are told was irradicated decades ago. Does this not sound fishy to anyone else?
      Not to me. It was only declared eradicated because there have been no known cases out in the wild. It is well known that the Soviets used Smallpox as a biological weapon, and nobody is very confident that both the weapons themselves and the scientists who developed them are well controlled by the Russian government nowadays. Waiting until an attack has been confirmed to vaccinate is leaving things far too late.
      Rule 1: Never trust a Frenchman
      Rule 2: Treat all members of the press as French

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      • #4
        "I think the information simply wasn't disseminated properly or impressed in a manner that was understood," Kahana said, "because I don't think anyone would knowingly expose their child to this."
        Yeah, that seems to be the problem....right...this lady has no ideal what she is talking about. I got a small pox vaccine prior to my deployment to Iraq in 2005. Let me tell you, they specifically go over plenty of information in regards to risks of the vaccine in relation to spreading it to yourself and others. The information is there on the risks. This soldier just failed to adhere to the guidance given. He choose to do his own thing and in doing so, risked the life of his son. Once again, it's a case of putting the blame on the insitution rather then the soldier.

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        • #5
          Plus, they specifically go over and ask each person who is going to get the shot if they have any skin problems!

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by TheChosenOne View Post
            Plus, they specifically go over and ask each person who is going to get the shot if they have any skin problems!
            Does it go as far to ask about other family members skin problems?

            Comment


            • #7
              Does it go as far to ask about other family members skin problems?
              No it doesn't and apparently after something like this it should.
              but...
              They specifically tell you to watch your interactions with others because it could spread and tell you not to 'mess' around with the small pox vaccine yourself so it doesn't spread on your own body.

              Now knowing that small pox is a contagious skin disease and after the warning to watch your interactions with others, don't you think you'd be a little more catious around your little child? I mean it's possible they didn't know the child had such a skin disease but it still doesn't circumvent stupidity.

              I see you are a military professional. I don't know how anal the British military is but I can only assume it's just as anal as the US military in regards to anything. The US military has risk managment protocols in place for everything.

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              • #8
                TCO. yes ,the UK military have inocculations and courses of tablets prior to overseas tours...however there has been instances of reactions also. I notice in the US case this seems to be an isolated(?) incident. There must have been thousands of jabs in the US Mil. and not all pers could have been careful. All the best to the family and we hope they make a speedy recovery

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