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Mil Med 2022 May 18. Epub 2022 May 18.

Medical Department, Naval Special Warfare Command, Coronado, CA 92155, USA.

Introduction: Vaccine technology has improved substantially since the first smallpox vaccine, developed more than 200 years ago. As technology improves, vaccines can be produced more safely and reliably for many different pathogens. A recent breakthrough saw the first full deployment of mRNA vaccines to fight a pandemic. Read More

Microbiol Spectr 2022 May 18:e0027222. Epub 2022 May 18.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA.

Poxviruses have large DNA genomes, and they are able to infect multiple vertebrate and invertebrate animals, including humans. Despite the eradication of smallpox, poxvirus infections still remain a significant public health concern. Vaccinia virus (VV) is the prototypic member in the family and it has been used extensively for different prophylactic applications, including the generation of vaccines against multiple infectious diseases and/or for oncolytic treatment. Read More

J Fr Ophtalmol 2022 May 13. Epub 2022 May 13.

Department of Ophthalmology Shaare-Zedek Medical Center Affiliated with the Hebrew University, Hadassah School of Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel.

Background And Purpose: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has accelerated vaccine development. The BNT162b2 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine is being administered worldwide. The purpose of this case series is to report a possible association between the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine and Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). Read More

Uisahak 2022 Apr;31(1):297-331

Institute of World and Global History, Ewha Womans University.

This article re-examines from a new perspective the efforts of James Smith (1771-1841), a Maryland doctor, to eradicate smallpox in the United States. As one of the few successful cowpox inoculators at the turn of the nineteenth century, Smith recognized the necessity for a public vaccine institution that could ensure the safe production and continuous preservation and circulation of vaccine matter. Thus, he devoted himself to creating statewide and national vaccine institutions funded by the state and federal governments. Read More

Am Surg 2022 May 12:31348221093633. Epub 2022 May 12.

Department of Surgery, Division of Pediatric Surgery, 6797University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill NC, USA.

When Benjamin Franklin published the mortality rates from smallpox during the Boston smallpox epidemic of 1752, he revealed that Blacks not only had a higher mortality rate from smallpox (12.8%, 62/485; 8.9% for whites, 452/5,059), but once inoculated, had less protection from fatal disease (mortality rate 5. Read More

Vaccine 2022 May 6. Epub 2022 May 6.

University Museum System of Siena (SIMUS), History of Medicine, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.

The current health emergency caused by COVID-19 disease shows several similarities with well-known epidemics of the past. The knowledge of their management and overcoming could give us useful tools to face the present COVID-19 pandemic. The Bourbon king Ferdinand I planned the first free large-scale mass vaccination programme conducted in Italy and one of the first in Europe to counteract smallpox. Read More

BMC Med 2022 May 9;20(1):172. Epub 2022 May 9.

Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International, 701 13th St NW Ste 750, Washington , DC, 20005, USA.

Background: Mobile and migrant populations (MMPs) pose a unique challenge to disease elimination campaigns as they are often hard to survey and reach with treatment. While some elimination efforts have had success reaching MMPs, other campaigns are struggling to do so, which may be affecting progress towards disease control and elimination. Therefore, this paper reviews the literature on elimination campaigns targeting MMPs across a selection of elimination diseases-neglected tropical diseases, malaria, trypanosomiasis, polio, smallpox, and rinderpest. Read More

Biochemistry (Mosc) 2022 Mar;87(3):242-258

Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119333, Russia.

Paleogenomics is one of the urgent and promising areas of interdisciplinary research in the today's world science. New genomic methods of ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis, such as next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, make it possible not only to obtain detailed genetic information about historical and prehistoric human populations, but also to study individual microbial and viral pathogens and microbiomes from different ancient and historical objects. Studies of aDNA of pathogens by reconstructing their genomes have so far yielded complete sequences of the ancient pathogens that played significant role in the history of the world: Yersinia pestis (plague), Variola virus (smallpox), Vibrio cholerae (cholera), HBV (hepatitis B virus), as well as the equally important endemic human infectious agents: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (tuberculosis), Mycobacterium leprae (leprosy), and Treponema pallidum (syphilis). Read More

J R Soc Interface 2022 May 4;19(190):20210781. Epub 2022 May 4.

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada L8S 4K1.

Face masks do not completely prevent transmission of respiratory infections, but masked individuals are likely to inhale fewer infectious particles. If smaller infectious doses tend to yield milder infections, yet ultimately induce similar levels of immunity, then masking could reduce the prevalence of severe disease even if the total number of infections is unaffected. It has been suggested that this effect of masking is analogous to the pre-vaccination practice of variolation for smallpox, whereby susceptible individuals were intentionally infected with small doses of live virus (and often acquired immunity without severe disease). Read More

J Investig Med High Impact Case Rep 2022 Jan-Dec;10:23247096221092291

Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Creighton University, Phoenix, AZ, USA.

Viral infections are a common cause of acute myocarditis. However, vaccines including influenza and smallpox have also been rarely implicated. Recently, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines have been associated with acute myocarditis. Read More

Vaccines (Basel) 2022 Apr 4;10(4). Epub 2022 Apr 4.

Department of Biomaterials Science (BK21 Four Program), Life and Industry Convergence Institute, Pusan National University, Miryang 50463, Korea.

Smallpox is an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus. According to WHO guidelines, the smallpox vaccine is administrated by scarification into the epidermis using a bifurcated needle moistened with a vaccine solution. However, this invasive vaccination method involving multiple skin punctures requires a special technique to inoculate, as well as a cold chain for storage and distribution of vaccine solutions containing a live virus. Read More

PLoS Pathog 2022 04 21;18(4):e1009854. Epub 2022 Apr 21.

Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Interactions between pathogens, host microbiota and the immune system influence many physiological and pathological processes. In the 20th century, widespread dermal vaccination with vaccinia virus (VACV) led to the eradication of smallpox but how VACV interacts with the microbiota and whether this influences the efficacy of vaccination are largely unknown. Here we report that intradermal vaccination with VACV induces a large increase in the number of commensal bacteria in infected tissue, which enhance recruitment of inflammatory cells, promote tissue damage and influence the host response. Read More

mBio 2022 Apr 18:e0030022. Epub 2022 Apr 18.

Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA.

Decapping enzymes remove the 5' cap of eukaryotic mRNA, leading to accelerated RNA decay. They are critical in regulating RNA homeostasis and play essential roles in many cellular and life processes. They are encoded in many organisms and viruses, including vaccinia virus, which was used as the vaccine to eradicate smallpox. Read More

Travel Med Infect Dis 2022 Apr 11;48:102327. Epub 2022 Apr 11.

Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia. Electronic address:

In 1972, Yugoslavia experienced the largest outbreak of smallpox in the history of Europe following the Second World War and its first smallpox outbreak after 1930. The origin of the infection is believed to be a pilgrim who visited countries in the Middle East. In this epidemic in Yugoslavia, from 16th February to 11 April 1972, a total of 175 people fell ill, 35 (20%) of whom died. Read More

Lancet Respir Med 2022 Apr 11. Epub 2022 Apr 11.

Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, National University Health System, Singapore; Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit, National University Heart Centre, National University Hospital, Singapore.

Background: Myopericarditis is a rare complication of vaccination. However, there have been increasing reports of myopericarditis following COVID-19 vaccination, especially among adolescents and young adults. We aimed to characterise the incidence of myopericarditis following COVID-19 vaccination, and compare this with non-COVID-19 vaccination. Read More

J Virol 2022 May 12;96(9):e0038922. Epub 2022 Apr 12.

Viral Diseases Division, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canadagrid.415368.d, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Increasing cases of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections from immunization with current spike protein-based COVID-19 vaccines highlight the need to develop alternative vaccines using different platforms and/or antigens. In this study, we expressed SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid proteins based on a novel vaccinia virus (VACV) ACAM2000 platform (rACAM2000). In this platform, the vaccinia virus host range and immunoregulatory gene E3L was deleted to make the virus attenuated and to enhance innate immune responses, and another host range gene, K3L, was replaced with a poxvirus ortholog gene, taterapox virus 037 (TATV037), to make virus replication competent in both hamster and human cells. Read More

Rev Infirm 2022 Mar 25;71(279):16-18. Epub 2022 Jan 25.

Direction des maladies infectieuses, Santé publique France, 12 rue du Val-d'Osne, Allée Vacassy, 94410 Saint-Maurice, France. Electronic address:

Vaccination remains a major public health tool, the only one that has enabled the eradication of an infectious disease, smallpox. In this fight, biotechnological innovations point to considerable progress in the development of new vaccines. However, whatever technical progress is made, the impact of a vaccination program will depend on its performance and on the support of the population. Read More

MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022 Apr 8;71(14):509-516. Epub 2022 Apr 8.

Monkeypox is a rare, sometimes life-threatening zoonotic infection that occurs in west and central Africa. It is caused by Monkeypox virus, an orthopoxvirus similar to Variola virus (the causative agent of smallpox) and Vaccinia virus (the live virus component of orthopoxvirus vaccines) and can spread to humans. After 39 years without detection of human disease in Nigeria, an outbreak involving 118 confirmed cases was identified during 2017-2018 (1); sporadic cases continue to occur. Read More

AAPS PharmSciTech 2022 Apr 5;23(4):103. Epub 2022 Apr 5.

Department of Pharmaceutical and Administrative Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Western New England University, Springfield, MA, 01119, USA.

Vaccination has produced a great improvement to the global health by decreasing/eradicating many infectious diseases responsible for significant morbidity and mortality. Thanks to vaccines, many infections affecting childhood have been greatly decreased or even eradicated (smallpox, measles, and polio). That is why great efforts are made to achieve mass vaccination against COVID-19. Read More

Expert Rev Vaccines 2022 Apr 8:1-12. Epub 2022 Apr 8.

Sensitech Life Sciences, Beverly, MA, USA.

Introduction: Vaccines have continually proven their inestimable value to the world through the eradication of smallpox, gains achieved toward a polio-free world, and controlling other vaccine-preventable diseases. Although vaccines require certain temperatures and conditions to maintain their potency, supply chain controls vary greatly at different legs of the global journey. Vaccine manufacture is closely managed, but inconsistencies plague the cold chain when vaccines are shipped and stored in variable conditions. Read More

Cureus 2022 Feb 17;14(2):e22345. Epub 2022 Feb 17.

Family Medicine Residency Program, Adventist Health System-Central Valley Network, Hanford, USA.

Vaccine-induced myocarditis has been acknowledged in the past as a rare complication after vaccine administration including influenza and smallpox. Over the past year, there has been an increased number of myopericarditis cases reported by The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) following the administration of the BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 vaccines. Most of these cases were among healthy young male adolescents. Read More

Front Pharmacol 2022 16;13:836356. Epub 2022 Mar 16.

State Key Laboratory of Toxicology and Medical Countermeasures, Beijing Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Beijing, China.

ST-246 is an oral drug against pathogenic orthopoxvirus infections. An intravenous formulation is required for some critical patients. A ternary complex of ST-246/meglumine/hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin with well-improved solubility was successfully developed in our institute. Read More

Front Med (Lausanne) 2022 11;9:802312. Epub 2022 Mar 11.

College of Health and Life Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar.

Recent progress in genomics and bioinformatics technologies have allowed for the emergence of immunogenomics field. This intersection of immunology and genetics has broadened our understanding of how the immune system responds to infection and vaccination. While the immunogenetic basis of the huge clinical variability in response to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is currently being extensively studied, the host genetic determinants of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines remain largely unknown. Read More

Infez Med 2022 1;30(1):109-118. Epub 2022 Mar 1.

Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences Luigi Sacco, University of Milan, Italy.

Aim of this study was to reconstruct the phylogeography of virus (VARV) in the XX century, using 47 VARV whole genome sequences available in public databases, through two different methods for ancestral character reconstruction: a frequently used Bayesian framework and a fast maximum-likelihood (ML) based method. The substitution rate of the whole VARV genome was estimated to be between 6.7×10 and 1. Read More

Biomedicines 2022 Mar 1;10(3). Epub 2022 Mar 1.

Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Transplantation, Rega Institute for Medical Research, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, Box 1030, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.

Despite the eradication of smallpox four decades ago, poxviruses continue to be a threat to humans and animals. The arsenal of anti-poxvirus agents is very limited and understanding mechanisms of resistance to agents targeting viral DNA polymerases is fundamental for the development of antiviral therapies. We describe here the phenotypic and genotypic characterization of poxvirus DNA polymerase mutants isolated under selective pressure with different acyclic nucleoside phosphonates, including HPMPC (cidofovir), cHPMPC, HPMPA, cHPMPA, HPMPDAP, HPMPO-DAPy, and PMEO-DAPy, and the pyrophosphate analogue phosphonoacetic acid. Read More

Acta Biomed 2022 03 14;93(1):e2022101. Epub 2022 Mar 14.

Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore di Milano Policlinico Milano Italia.

Terminology, technology, communication and organizational strategies are different but we tried to compare the mass vaccination campaign against smallpox with the one we are doing against coronavirus. Read More

Public Health 2022 04 17;205:e16-e17. Epub 2022 Mar 17.

FAPAB Research Center, Avola, SR, Sicily, Italy; Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia; Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences (DIBINEM), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.

J Allergy Clin Immunol 2022 Mar 15. Epub 2022 Mar 15.

Department of Pediatrics, National Jewish Health, Denver, Colo. Electronic address:

Background: Life-threatening viral diseases such as eczema herpeticum (EH) and eczema vaccinatum (EV) occur in <5% of individuals with atopic dermatitis (AD). The diagnosis of AD, however, excludes all individuals with AD from smallpox vaccination.

Objectives: We sought to identify circulatory and skin lipid biomarkers associated with EH and EV. Read More

Vopr Virusol 2022 03 16;67(1):77-86. Epub 2022 Mar 16.

DGE «Research Institute for Biological Safety Problems», Committee of Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Introduction: This article presents the results of isolation of camel smallpox virus (Poxviridae: Orthopoxvirus: Camelpox virus, CMLPV) and study of its reproductive properties on sensitive biological systems.

Material And Methods: The epizootic strain M-96 of the virus as well as its attenuated variants KM-40 and KM-70 obtained by sequential passivation were used in the study. Isolation of the pathogen from suspension of biopsy specimens was performed on cell culture and in embryonated chicken eggs (ECEs). Read More

Am J Epidemiol 2022 Mar 15. Epub 2022 Mar 15.

Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.

In high income countries, childhood infections are on the rise, a phenomenon in part attributed to persistent hesitancy towards vaccines. To combat vaccine hesitancy, several countries recently made vaccinating children mandatory, but the effect of such vaccination laws on vaccination coverage remains debated and the long-term consequences are unknown. Here we quantified the consequences of vaccination laws on the vaccination coverage monitoring for a period of 63 years (1837-1899) rural Finland's first vaccination campaign against the highly lethal childhood infection smallpox. Read More