Resurrecting Smallpox? Easier Than You Think
By LEONARD ADLEMAN, NYT, OCT. 15, 2014
LOS ANGELES — ON Oct. 16, 1975, 3-year-old Rahima Banu of Bangladesh became the last human infected with naturally occurring smallpox (variola major). When her immune system killed the last smallpox virus in her body, it also killed the last such smallpox virus in humans. In what is arguably mankind’s greatest achievement, smallpox was eradicated.
Our war with this smallpox virus was brutal. It appears likely that the virus killed about one billion of us. Initially, our only defense was our immune system, but eventually we developed new tools, including vaccination. In the late 1950s, the World Health Organization began responding to outbreaks by vaccinating everyone in the surrounding area to prevent the virus from spreading. By 1975, we had won.
The smallpox virus had only a single host species: us. Other viruses have multiple hosts. For example, some strains of flu live in both humans and pigs, hence “swine flu.” If smallpox had had a second host, eradicating it in humans would have been of little value, since it would have thrived in its second host and later re-emerged in humans.
A few samples of the virus are still kept in special labs: one in the United States and one in Russia. We don’t bother vaccinating against smallpox anymore; if the virus escapes from one of these labs, the war will begin again. Currently, there is debate about whether these samples should be destroyed or kept for scientific purposes.
(More here.)
LOS ANGELES — ON Oct. 16, 1975, 3-year-old Rahima Banu of Bangladesh became the last human infected with naturally occurring smallpox (variola major). When her immune system killed the last smallpox virus in her body, it also killed the last such smallpox virus in humans. In what is arguably mankind’s greatest achievement, smallpox was eradicated.
Our war with this smallpox virus was brutal. It appears likely that the virus killed about one billion of us. Initially, our only defense was our immune system, but eventually we developed new tools, including vaccination. In the late 1950s, the World Health Organization began responding to outbreaks by vaccinating everyone in the surrounding area to prevent the virus from spreading. By 1975, we had won.
The smallpox virus had only a single host species: us. Other viruses have multiple hosts. For example, some strains of flu live in both humans and pigs, hence “swine flu.” If smallpox had had a second host, eradicating it in humans would have been of little value, since it would have thrived in its second host and later re-emerged in humans.
A few samples of the virus are still kept in special labs: one in the United States and one in Russia. We don’t bother vaccinating against smallpox anymore; if the virus escapes from one of these labs, the war will begin again. Currently, there is debate about whether these samples should be destroyed or kept for scientific purposes.
(More here.)
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