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Scientist who helped eradicate smallpox dies at age 89

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Scientist who helped eradicate smallpox dies at age 89

#41

Post by dgacmu »

CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #24

I'm starting to think that we should be calling it "contained", not "eradicated". Eradication invites the question "Well then, why do we still need the vaccine?"

It really is eradicated - it's the only human disease we've truly eradicated. There are literally no more cases of smallpox in the wild, period.

The problem is that there are samples of viable virus in the labs of the US and Russia. So - it's eradicated but we have to keep stockpiles of vaccine around anyway. But nobody gets vaccined for it any more; it has an unfavorable risk-benefit ratio when the virus simply does not circulate. Smallpox kills ~30% of people who get infected with it; the first-generation vaccine had a mortality rate of about 1 in 1,000,000.

(There are newer-generation vaccines developed and being developed that have an even better safety profile but we still wouldn't use them because the cost - the literal cost and the side effects and general "meh, why get another shot?"-ness outweighs the benefit of protection against something you don't need protection against.)

Re: Scientist who helped eradicate smallpox dies at age 89

#42

Post by epistasis »

jfengel wrote: post #30
andrewflnr wrote: post #25

That's got to be one of the greatest legacies in all human history. No politician or other empire-builder comes close.

And it comes at a time when a disease we were working on eliminating, measles, has come back and the US is about to lose its measles-free status. It sounds as if his legacy is to be unique, a feat never to be accomplished again.

Perhaps I'm overly an optimist, but I have a feeling we will develop the informational and psychological technology to combat the destructive misinformation campaigns that brainwash people into harming their children with anti-vaccine beliefs.

We are not there yet, because the destructive media forces are too new and we haven't developed defenses against information diseases like RFK Jr. But we will get there. Two steps forward, one step back.

Re: Scientist who helped eradicate smallpox dies at age 89

#43

Post by 3eb7988a1663 »

quesera wrote: post #34
jfengel wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it comes at a time when a disease we were working on eliminating, measles, has come back and the US is about to lose its measles-free status. It sounds as if his legacy is to be unique, a feat never to be accomplished again.

We still have another chance for eradication in humans with Polio.

Not if the CIA has anything to say about it: CIA fake vaccination campaign in Pakistan[0]

  ...The program was ultimately unsuccessful in locating Osama bin Laden. It led to the arrest of a participating physician, Shakil Afridi, and was widely ridiculed as undermining public health.[2][3] The program is credited with increasing vaccine hesitancy in Pakistan[4][5][6][7] and a rise in violence against healthcare workers for being perceived as spies.[8] The rise in vaccine hesitancy following the program led to the re-emergence of polio in Pakistan, with Pakistan having by far the largest number of polio cases in the world by 2014.[8]
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_fake_vaccination_campaign_...

Re: Scientist who helped eradicate smallpox dies at age 89

#48

Post by vkou »

andrewflnr wrote: post #25

That's got to be one of the greatest legacies in all human history. No politician or other empire-builder comes close.

Is there any way that people can work to re-introduce it into society? I know some folks are making a lot of progress with MMR.

Re: Scientist who helped eradicate smallpox dies at age 89

#49

Post by vkou »

epistasis wrote: post #42
jfengel wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it comes at a time when a disease we were working on eliminating, measles, has come back and the US is about to lose its measles-free status. It sounds as if his legacy is to be unique, a feat never to be accomplished again.

Perhaps I'm overly an optimist, but I have a feeling we will develop the informational and psychological technology to combat the destructive misinformation campaigns that brainwash people into harming their children with anti-vaccine beliefs. We are not there yet, because the destructive media forces are too new and we haven't developed defenses against information diseases like RFK Jr. But we will get there. Two st…

Who is we, who will pay for it, and how will such informational inoculation benefit the rich?

The current media status quo, and its consequences does, which is why we get to enjoy it.

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