Smallpox

Smallpox
Author: Donald Ainslie Henderson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2009
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9781591027225

Foreword by Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone; Preface by David M. Oshinsky. The personal story of how Dr Henderson led the World Health Organization's campaign to eradicate smallpoxthe only disease in history to have been deliberately eliminated.

House on Fire

House on Fire
Author: William H. Foege
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2011-06-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0520268369

“Bill Foege takes us inside the world's greatest public health triumph: the eradication of smallpox. It's a story of true determination, passion and courage. The story of smallpox should encourage all of us to continue the critical work of worldwide disease eradication.”--Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation “Bill Foege is one of the public health giants of our times. He was responsible for the design of the campaign that eradicated smallpox—the most important global health achievement in history and possibly the greatest feat in any field of international cooperation. His insights into the nature of this major event will undoubtedly help to meet the global health challenges of the 21st century.”—Julio Frenk, M.D, PhD, Dean, Harvard School of Public Health “The eradication of a disease has long been the holy grail of global health and Bill Foege found it: more than any other person, he was responsible for the eradication of smallpox from the face of the earth. This is a story told by a remarkably humble man, about the extraordinary coalition that he helped to build, and the most impressive global health accomplishment the world has ever seen.”—Mark Rosenberg, author of Real Collaboration: What It Takes for Global Health to Succeed “I am thrilled that Bill Foege, one of the great heroes of the smallpox eradication campaign, has written this important book. It tells a beautiful human story of an incredible public health triumph, and is full of lessons that could be applied to many of the global challenges we face today.”—Helene D. Gayle MD, President and CEO, CARE USA “Bill Foege’s House on Fire is the first-hand account of how a revised strategy to eradicate smallpox was tested, validated, and applied. Without the global adoption of this new surveillance strategy, the final deathblow to this longtime global menace might never have been dealt.”—Adetokunbo O. Lucas, MD, DSc, author of It Was The Best of Times: From Local to Global Health “Smallpox is the most devastating disease the world has known, as it destroyed lives and shaped history over the centuries. House on Fire provides a day-to-day account by my friend Dr. Bill Foege of the battle required to defeat this wily and diabolic virus."--President Jimmy Carter

The Eradication of Smallpox

The Eradication of Smallpox
Author: H. Bazin
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2000
Genre: Medical
ISBN:

Simply, and with great humanity, The Eradication of Smallpox tells the story of smallpox - it's origins, the horror of the disease, and the millions of people killed or disfigured by it. During the 18th and 19th centuries, it is estimated that one out of every ten people died from the disease; some say one out of every seven. Smallpox attacked very young children in particular. The story progresses with the practice of variolation, the life of Edward Jenner who first proposed 'vaccination' with cow pox vaccine (little James Phipps was the first person ever vaccinated in this way), the years of debate about the efficacy of this novel method, and the later worldwide initiatives to rid the planet of this horrific disease. In 1979, the story culminates in the only total eradication of an infectious disease that mankind has ever accomplished. This year celebrates the 20th anniversary of this momentous achievement. In the intervening years, debate has raged about what we should do with the remaining smallpox viral stocks. Do we destroy them, so they can't fall into the hands of bioterrorists, or do we maintain them, in case they may be of use in some unexpected way, for therapeutic purposes? These questions are thoroughly discussed in the book. Covers the background, history and origin of smallpox, and brings the story up to the present day Gives full and interesting details of Jenner's life, and tells how this humble country doctor brought about a revolution in vaccination Includes many quotes from historical figures Features 120 high quality photographs, many originating from unique historical plates in the author's private collection Includes new research data Provides new views on the eradication and destruction of smallpox

Scientific and Policy Considerations in Developing Smallpox Vaccination Options

Scientific and Policy Considerations in Developing Smallpox Vaccination Options
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 57
Release: 2002-11-28
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309086043

At the World Health Assembly in May 1980, the World Health Organization declared the world free of smallpox. Smallpox vaccination of civilians is now indicated only for laboratory workers directly involved with smallpox or closely related orthopox viruses. However recent questions raised by the terrorist attacks in fall 2001 have renewed concerns about possible outbreaks of smallpox resulting from its use as a biological weapon. In June 2002, the Institute of Medicine convened a public conference to discuss the scientific, clinical, procedural, and administrative aspects of various immunization strategies. Scientific and Policy Considerations in Developing Smallpox Vaccination Options summarizes the presentations and discussions from this workshop.

Assessment of Future Scientific Needs for Live Variola Virus

Assessment of Future Scientific Needs for Live Variola Virus
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 126
Release: 1999-04-30
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309173191

In 1980, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared that smallpox had been eradicated. In 1986, WHO's international Ad Hoc Committee on Orthopox Virus Infections unanimously recommended destruction of the two remaining official stocks of variola virus, one at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the other at the VECTOR laboratory in Siberia. In June 1999, WHO decided to delay the destruction of these stocks. Informing that decision was Assessment of Future Scientific Needs for Variola Virus, which examines: Whether the sequenced variola genome, vaccinia, and monkey pox virus are adequate for future research or whether the live variola virus itself is needed to assist in the development of antiviral therapies. What further benefits, if any, would likely be gained through the use of variola in research and development efforts related to agent detection, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. What unique potential benefits, if any, the study of variola would have in increasing our fundamental understanding of the biology, host-agent interactions, pathogenesis, and immune mechanisms of viral diseases.

Angel of Death

Angel of Death
Author: G. Williams
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 453
Release: 2010-05-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0230293190

The story of the rise and fall of smallpox, one of the most savage killers in the history of mankind, and the only disease ever to be successfully exterminated (30 years ago next year) by a public health campaign.

The End of a Global Pox

The End of a Global Pox
Author: Bob H. Reinhardt
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2015-06-24
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1469624109

By the mid-twentieth century, smallpox had vanished from North America and Europe but continued to persist throughout Africa, Asia, and South America. In 1965, the United States joined an international effort to eradicate the disease, and after fifteen years of steady progress, the effort succeeded. Bob H. Reinhardt demonstrates that the fight against smallpox drew American liberals into new and complex relationships in the global Cold War, as he narrates the history of the only cooperative international effort to successfully eliminate a human disease. Unlike other works that have chronicled the fight against smallpox by offering a "biography" of the disease or employing a triumphalist narrative of a public health victory, The End of a Global Pox examines the eradication program as a complex exercise of American power. Reinhardt draws on methods from environmental, medical, and political history to interpret the global eradication effort as an extension of U.S. technological, medical, and political power. This book demonstrates the far-reaching manifestations of American liberalism and Cold War ideology and sheds new light on the history of global public health and development.

The Demon in the Freezer

The Demon in the Freezer
Author: Richard Preston
Publisher: Fawcett
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2003-08-26
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0345466632

“The bard of biological weapons captures the drama of the front lines.”—Richard Danzig, former secretary of the navy The first major bioterror event in the United States-the anthrax attacks in October 2001-was a clarion call for scientists who work with “hot” agents to find ways of protecting civilian populations against biological weapons. In The Demon in the Freezer, his first nonfiction book since The Hot Zone, a #1 New York Times bestseller, Richard Preston takes us into the heart of Usamriid, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, once the headquarters of the U.S. biological weapons program and now the epicenter of national biodefense. Peter Jahrling, the top scientist at Usamriid, a wry virologist who cut his teeth on Ebola, one of the world’s most lethal emerging viruses, has ORCON security clearance that gives him access to top secret information on bioweapons. His most urgent priority is to develop a drug that will take on smallpox-and win. Eradicated from the planet in 1979 in one of the great triumphs of modern science, the smallpox virus now resides, officially, in only two high-security freezers-at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and in Siberia, at a Russian virology institute called Vector. But the demon in the freezer has been set loose. It is almost certain that illegal stocks are in the possession of hostile states, including Iraq and North Korea. Jahrling is haunted by the thought that biologists in secret labs are using genetic engineering to create a new superpox virus, a smallpox resistant to all vaccines. Usamriid went into a state of Delta Alert on September 11 and activated its emergency response teams when the first anthrax letters were opened in New York and Washington, D.C. Preston reports, in unprecedented detail, on the government’ s response to the attacks and takes us into the ongoing FBI investigation. His story is based on interviews with top-level FBI agents and with Dr. Steven Hatfill. Jahrling is leading a team of scientists doing controversial experiments with live smallpox virus at CDC. Preston takes us into the lab where Jahrling is reawakening smallpox and explains, with cool and devastating precision, what may be at stake if his last bold experiment fails.