smallpox vaccine

smallpox vaccine, preparation of vaccinia virus given to prevent smallpox. Vaccinia virus is a type of poxvirus that is closely related to variola major, the virus that causes smallpox, and exposure to vaccinia provides cross immunity against smallpox. The smallpox vaccine is effective in preventing infection in about 95 percent of individuals, with protection lasting about three to five years. In 1967 the World Health Organization (WHO) began a global vaccination program against smallpox, and in 1980 the disease was officially declared eradicated.

Smallpox vaccine was introduced by British physician Edward Jenner, who in 1796 used the cowpox virus (vaccinia) to confer protection against smallpox in humans. Prior to that use, however, the principle of vaccination had been applied by Asian physicians who gave children dried crusts from the lesions of people suffering from smallpox to protect against the disease. While some developed immunity, others developed the disease. Jenner’s contribution was to use a substance similar to, but safer than, smallpox to confer immunity. He thus exploited the relatively rare situation in which immunity to one virus confers protection against another viral disease.

During the 19th century, vaccination programs, many of them compulsory, were instituted in many countries. At first, vaccine was obtained directly from vaccinated persons, but soon it was being commercially harvested from pustules grown on the skin of inoculated calves. Later in the century it became apparent that the cowpox virus had been supplanted in vaccines by a different strain. It is still not certain whether the new virus, called vaccinia, was a mutation of cowpox virus or a completely separate strain, but it remains the virus used for vaccine production to this day.

In 2007 the Food and Drug Administration in the United States approved a new smallpox vaccine, the only new vaccine for smallpox to be approved since 1931. The new vaccine, called ACAM2000, is produced using basic cell-culture techniques that allow it to be made quickly and in sufficient quantity in the event of a national smallpox emergency.

Smallpox vaccine contains live attenuated vaccinia virus, and thus most persons vaccinated with it experience mild side effects, such as fever, headache, body aches, and rash. Some individuals, especially those with weakened immune systems, are at risk of potentially severe complications, including allergic reaction, skin rash (eczema vaccinatum), brain inflammation, or progressive vaccinia (the development of a nonhealing sore at the vaccination site). Other severe reactions may include inflammation of the heart (myocarditis) or the lining of the heart (pericarditis). Smallpox vaccine also is associated with a risk of spreading the vaccinia virus, which can happen if the individual touches the site of vaccination and then touches another area of the body or another person.