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In 1765, enslaved Africans boarded the Roi Guinguin in Badagry as part of a restitution agreement between a Nantesian slave trading company and an African ruler. These captive Africans endured treacherous journeys from West Africa's interior to Badagry, then Príncipe, then toward Saint Domingue before being rerouted to Cayenne in Guyane (French Guiana), and then the Îles du Salut for a smallpox quarantine. The captain of the Roi Guinguin and French imperial officials' fears of smallpox outbreaks and other contagious diseases prompted them to halt and reroute the voyage to refreshment centers and quarantines along the West African and South American coasts. The African captives took these stopovers as opportunities to flee and otherwise resist their enslavement. The enslaved Africans felt West African and European imperialism and commerce come to bear on and in their bodies as slave traders and colonial officials exploited the African and South American coastal geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The eradication of smallpox and the cessation of vaccination have led to the growth of the susceptible human population to poxviruses. This has led to the increasing detection of zoonotic orthopoxviruses. Among those viruses, monkeypox virus (MPV) is the most commonly detected in Western and Central African regions. Since 2022, MPV is causing local transmission in newly affected countries all over the world. While the virus causing the current outbreak remains part of clade II (historically referred to as West African clade), it has a significant number of mutations as compared to other clade II sequences and is therefore referred to as clade IIb. It remains unclear whether those mutations may have caused a change in the virus phenotype. Vaccine effectiveness data show evidence of a high cross-protection of vaccines designed to prevent smallpox against mpox. These vaccines therefore represent a great opportunity to control human-to-human transmission, provided that their availability has short time-frames and that mistakes from the recent past (vaccine inequity) will not be reiterated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Certification is an essential stage in disease eradication efforts, encompassing epidemiological, managerial, and political complexities. The certification of smallpox eradication in the People’s Republic of China (PRC, or China) exemplifies the multifaceted nature of the certification. Despite eradicating smallpox in the early 1960s, before the Global Smallpox Eradication Programme (SEP) intensified in 1967, China was one of the last countries certified as smallpox-free by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1979. The WHO encountered notable resistance during the certification of smallpox eradication in China. This article examines the underlying motivations propelling China’s resistance, the factors that contributed to the shifts in its stance, the challenges navigated by the WHO, and the ultimate achievement of certification despite controversies surrounding its transparency and credibility. Through the case of the certification of smallpox eradication, the article provides a historical context of China’s selective engagement in global health governance, emphasising the critical importance of building a trusting relationship between the WHO and its member states. It offers insights for fostering effective collaboration among diverse stakeholders driven by varied political agendas in addressing shared global health challenges such as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variola virus, the causing agent of smallpox, was eradicated in 1980s and today no new cases are reported. The first human infectious illness to be eliminated globally is variola. On the contrary to Variola, monkeypox, which is a zoonotic and variola-like disease, has nowadays turned to be a major health problem worldwide. VZV is a neurotropic virus and the cause of varicella (chickenpox) and herpes zoster (shingles), which is also a highly infectious disease, especially prevalent in children. These three skin diseases—monkeypox, smallpox, and chickenpox—are frequently mistaken with one another due to similar manifestations including fever, rash, myalgia, chills and headache, but they can all be distinguished by their distinctive symptoms. Although these rash-causing disorders might present different skin lesions; diagnostic tests can be extremely useful in their differentiation. We searched for these concepts on a search engine like Google Scholar, scanning the results for alternative words and phrases, and examined relevant abstracts or articles for alternative words. The clinical diagnosis of monkeypox infection is commonly made based on the occurrence pattern of its skin rash. It is possible in varicella to concurrently identify lesions in their various stages including macular, papular, vesicular, pustular, and crusts; however, monkeypox lesions are all in the same stage and evolve with the same rate. In this review, we have tried to provide a holistic and comprehensive comparison between these three skin infections with a focus on the newly epidemic monkeypox, bringing about the most recent knowledge about its features and its diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tecovirimat oral capsule formulation is approved in the US and Canada for treatment of smallpox and in the United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU) for treatment of multiple human orthopoxvirus diseases, including mpox. Smallpox is considered a serious threat, and there is currently an unprecedented global mpox outbreak. A brief summary of the threat of smallpox, the threat of increasing mpox spread in endemic regions, and the unprecedented emergence of mpox into non-endemic regions is presented. The tecovirimat intravenous formulation clinical development program leading to USFDA approval for smallpox treatment is discussed. As of January 2023 tecovirimat is approved to treat mpox in the UK and EU. However, published clinical trial data evaluating tecovirimat efficacy and safety in mpox patients is pending. Increasing global prevalence of mpox highlights the potential benefits of a well-characterized, effective, and safe antiviral treatment for mpox infection. Ongoing trials in mpox patients may provide results supporting the use of tecovirimat to treat this disease. USFDA approval of tecovirimat for post-exposure prophylaxis in the event of a smallpox release, and the development of pediatric liquid formulations for patients under 13 kg, could provide additional public health benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is strong evidence that maternal smallpox infection can cause foetal loss, it is not clear whether smallpox infections were a demographically important cause of stillbirths historically. In this paper, we use parish-level data from the Swedish Tabellverket data set for 1780–1839 to test the effect of smallpox on stillbirths quantitatively, analysing periods before and after the introduction of vaccination in 1802. We find that smallpox infection was not a major cause of stillbirths before 1820, because most women contracted smallpox as children and were therefore not susceptible during pregnancy. We do find a small, statistically significant effect of smallpox on stillbirths from 1820 to 1839, when waning immunity from vaccination put a greater share of pregnant women at risk of contracting smallpox. However, the reduced prevalence of smallpox in this period limited its impact on stillbirths. Thus, smallpox was not an important driver of historical stillbirth trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monkeypox virus (MPXV) is considered as zoonotic disease with characteristics comparable to smallpox virus. The disease is now a global epidemic concern. Currently, tecovirimat is approved by US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for MPXV treatment. The aim of this in silico study is to repurpose approved pharmaceutical drugs as potential inhibitors of MPXV target. In this study, molecular docking was performed on 406 pharmaceutical drugs, and results were compared with reference tecovirimat. Results showed that 7 compounds, bictegravir, glimepiride, glyburide, lasmiditan, olaparib, rimegepant, and ubrogepant, have shown higher binding energies compared to the reference. After that, these best hits were further assessed by 100 ns molecular dynamics simulation and the best results were observed for bictegravir, glimepiride, glyburide, olaparib, and ubrogepant. The docking analysis was further validated by molecular mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann surface area (MM-PBSA) binding free energy calculations. In addition, pharmacokinetics and density functional theory (DFT) studies were also discussed for these best hits. In conclusion, three compounds, bictegravir, glimepiride, and glyburide, have satisfied all the criteria for better leads against MPXV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 11 May 1783, Lady Mary Traquair "went to Bed for ye first night, had not been in Bed for 12 nights before," because she had been nursing her son, Charles, Lord Linton, who was inoculated against smallpox in late April. In this anxious period, Lady Traquair quarrelled with the inoculator; adapted prescribed drug regimens; lost the little trust she had in the nursemaid; and tracked Linton's sleep meticulously. Lady Traquair paid attention to all of the Galenic six non-naturals, but she became focussed on Linton's sleep, which was badly disturbed. Her anxiety was heightened by mistrust of some of the attendants hired to care for her son. Even after his recovery, her habit of monitoring his sleep remained as shorthand for Linton's wellbeing. While Linton's illness did worry his mother, her record of his overnight care illuminates other facets of women's experiences of illness and nursing. Examining how Lady Traquair intervened in Linton's sleep illuminates her relationships with his attendants, her medical judgement, and the role she gave herself as a dutiful, unsentimental, but caring mother. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study offers a microhistory by exploring the impact regular smallpox outbreaks had on the lives of gentry families in seventeenth-century England. It particularly focuses on the question as in what way smallpox influenced upbringing and educational decisions and draws on a collection of personal letters of the Clarke family (1667–1710), mainly correspondence between Mary (neé Jepp) (approx. 1655/7–1705) and her husband Edward Clarke I of Chipley (1650–1710), Somerset, and their children. Personal letters contain various information about infectious diseases, such as symptoms, care, and medical treatment. It is argued that the constant threat of epidemics of smallpox influenced the upbringing and education of children with regard to personnel, for example tutors or governesses, places, schools, and institutions, and the duration of studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis, with symptoms similar to those seen in smallpox patients, although the clinical presentation may be less severe. Until recently, human monkeypox infection was rare, and primarily occurred in Central and West Africa. An international outbreak began in May 2022, and monkeypox has now been detected on every continent except Antarctica. The first recognized case from the current outbreak was confirmed in the United Kingdom on 6 May 2022, in an adult with travel links to Nigeria, but it has been suggested that cases had been spreading in Europe for months. On 23 July 2022 the Director-General of the World Health Organization declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. There are no treatments specifically for monkeypox virus infections. However, monkeypox and smallpox viruses are genetically similar, and therapeutics developed to combat smallpox may be used to treat monkeypox. This manuscripts reviews what is known about these potential treatments, including tecovirimat and brincidofovir, based on a literature search of PubMed through 9 August 2022, and explores how these therapeutics may be used in the future to address the expanding monkeypox pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monkeypox virus is a zoonotic double-stranded DNA poxvirus in the genus Orthopoxvirus, family Poxviridae. Until recently, monkeypox was found primarily in Central and West Africa, where the virus had split into Congo Basin and West African clades. On 6 May 2022, monkeypox was detected in the United Kingdom and the virus has now been detected in every continent except Antarctica. The current outbreak represents the first documentation of widespread community transmission outside of Africa. On 23 July 2022, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern and issued a series of guidance and recommendations for governments, health professionals and the public. This manuscript reviews what is known about monkeypox virus, with a focus on recent diagnostics and epidemiologic advances, and explores how recent advances in our understanding of the virus will be used to combat the expanding outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the first modern practitioners of modern vaccination was Edward Jenner, whose work constituted a significant advancement in smallpox prevention. Since his discovery, issues surrounding vaccine mandates have sparred against the greater American principles of self-reliance, independence, and autonomy over one's body. This paper examines medical training and practice during 19th century America through the letters of a well-known physician named Dr. Albert G. Mackey. These letters provide a glimpse into the attitudes and public health practices of 19th century medical professionals, most notably related to variolizations against smallpox. Furthermore, this exploration of Mackey's writings provides insights into early controversies on safety and government vaccine mandates, which resemble many aspects of the current debates surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine mandates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Trump administration, as mandated by law, is creating a new national strategy for biodefense. The ultimate aim of a biodefense strategy is to provide security – but the administration’s processes for strategy formulation and execution are fundamentally mismatched with the goal of improving security. Severe White House dysfunction calls into question the administration’s ability to successfully oversee a national biodefense strategy, as does a failure to appoint high-ranking officials to crucial positions in a timely fashion. The administration has also exhibited an anti-science attitude nearly across the board and has proposed deep budget cuts for several of the government agencies most crucial to executing a national biodefense strategy. The future of US biodefense is at significant risk under the Trump administration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Development of the SARS-CoV-2 virus vaccine and its update on an ongoing pandemic is the first subject of the world health agenda. First, we will scrutinize the biological features of the measles virus (MV), variola virus (smallpox virus), influenza virus, and their vaccines to compare them with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and vaccine. Next, we will discuss the statistical details of measuring the effectiveness of an improved vaccine. Amidst the pandemic, we ought to acknowledge our prior experiences with respiratory viruses and vaccines. In the planning stage of observational Phase-III vaccine effectiveness studies, the sample size, sampling method, statistical model, and selection of variables are crucial in obtaining high-quality and valid results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By contrast with dominant opinion in global health, D'Arcangelis argues that national sovereignty offers an important legal and political mechanism for reclaiming power over health outcomes and resources. Gwen Shuni D'Arcangelis has written a concise and powerful book on the injustices and asymmetries of global health security. Still more fundamental was the framing of security strategy in terms of health protection, which at its most extreme provided a justification for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 at massive cost to life and health. [Extracted from the article]

COVID-19 is not the world's first pandemic, not its worst, or likely to be its last. In fact, there have been many pandemics throughout history with lessons for the current one. The most destructive pandemic of all time, at least in terms of the number of people killed in the shortest time, was the "Spanish flu" pandemic of 1918/1919. Why did it happen? What lessons did it teach us? And could it happen again? These questions are addressed in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic and several other nearly equally devastating pandemics of earlier times [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tecovirimat (TPOXX®; ST-246) was approved for the treatment of symptomatic smallpox by the USFDA in July of 2018 and has been stockpiled by the US government for use in a smallpox outbreak. While there has not been a reported case of smallpox since 1978 it is still considered a serious bioterrorism threat. A brief history of smallpox from its proposed origins as a human disease through its eradication in the late 20th century is presented. The current smallpox threat and the current public health response plans are described. The discovery, and development of tecovirimat through NDA submission and subsequent approval for treatment of smallpox are discussed. Google Scholar and PubMed were searched over all available dates for relevant publications. Approval of tecovirimat to treat smallpox represents an important milestone in biosecurity preparedness. Incorporating tecovirimat into the CDC smallpox response plan, development of pediatric liquid and intravenous formulations, and approval for post-exposure prophylaxis would provide additional health security benefit. Tecovirimat shows broad efficacy against orthopoxviruses in vitro and in vivo and could be developed for use against emerging orthopoxvirus diseases such as monkeypox, vaccination-associated adverse events, and side effects of vaccinia oncolytic virus therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frances Burney's novels may be taken as the models par excellence for the feminine bildungsroman. They articulate the eponymous heroines' (which is to say, Evelina, Cecilia, and Camilla's) maturation through, to borrow Emily Allen's phrase, a 'mastery of proper femininity.' However, in Burney's third novel, Camilla, it is the heroine's youngest sister, Eugenia, who serves as the novel's more complete and compelling portrait of female maturity and, more significantly, of character formation. In the novel's opening chapters Eugenia is scarred and disfigured; 'defects' which bankrupt her of the qualities needed for a heroine, especially if she is to triumph in the final chapter by completing her journey into adulthood at the altar. This essay proposes that by harnessing the lenses of skin theory and disability studies we might clarify the intersection between disfigurement and gender during the long eighteenth century and, moreover, examine the way that scarring was used to encode female character in the late eighteenth-century bildungsroman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As in several other settler colonial societies, Australia has come some way to recognising the suffering inflicted upon its First Peoples as a consequence of colonisation. Such historical reassessment of the nation's origins has given rise to a backlash of unsettlement. Australia's History Wars feature claims and counter claims regarding the number of Aboriginal people intentionally murdered by colonists as distinct from 'unintentional' Indigenous fatalities resulting from introduced infectious diseases. Following recent critiques of the 'virgin soil' hypothesis in context of the Columbian Exchange (for example Cameron, Catherine M., Paul Kelton, and Alan C. Swedlund, eds. 2015. Beyond Germs: Native Depopulation in North America. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.), I argue that biological determinism has similarly obscured the violence of Australian settler colonialism. Focussing on observations of a mid-nineteenth century outbreak of smallpox in Australia's Northwest, I seek to expand the horizons of debates concerning the scope and extent of settler colonial violence to include the appraisal of introduced diseases as a form of structural violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In early modern Scandinavia, the population's sensitivity to disease and food supply shortages was great. Researchers have long been interested in the crises caused by these conditions, and the dominant causes of death have been well documented in Sweden since the late eighteenth century. But for the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, in the mortality regime preceding the initial stage of the demographic transition, our understanding of the infectious diseases is significantly limited. Through an analysis of causes of death and tithe levels, this article gives new insight regarding mortality rates, harvests and, above all, diseases in a parish located in a Swedish forested area during the mid- and late seventeenth century and first half of the eighteenth century. It presents new research about which diagnoses were most common, how often the more prevalent diseases of fevers, smallpox, and dysentery broke out, and the varying role of diseases on mortality rates during bad harvest years. The inhabitants in this parish presumably had a food supply buffer in their summer farm system, yet they remained vulnerable to bad harvests, and people in the area were just as susceptible to the common infectious diseases as the inhabitants in more tightly populated areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gal-carrying tick that makes humans Anne's lace crowns & crayons the weather Best Beloveds:. [Extracted from the article]

Award-winning radio and newspaper reporter Laurie Garrett, now a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, describes the mistakes and misjudgments made by government officials in response to the anthrax attacks of 2001 and provides recommendations for what should be done now. Garrett says it is important to view 9/11 and the anthrax mailings as connected events in any evaluation of the government response. She criticizes the emphasis placed on a smallpox vaccine, which diverted attention from other health issues. She lists circumstantial evidence that points toward Al Qaeda, rather than bioweapons scientist Bruce Ivins, as the anthrax culprit. Garrett assesses the mistakes made in response to the anthrax mailings based on what turned out to be incorrect assumptions. She calls for a thorough investigation of the attacks, comparable to The 9/11 Commission Report, to understand what went wrong. And she explains why transparency, within and among government agencies, as well as in communications with the public, is essential in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anecdotal evidence indicates that high-status women in England generally did not breastfeed their children in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Metropolitan families of varied social status also often sent their children out of London for wet-nursing. However, anecdotal sources and rural burial registers also suggest that these practices declined rapidly from the mid-eighteenth century, and were replaced by a culture of maternal breastfeeding in all social classes. These changes in infant-feeding practices have been argued to explain much of the dramatic improvement in infant mortality rates in London in this period. Here we used quantitative evidence from a partial family reconstitution of the London parish of St. Martin in the Fields to test these claims. Using birth interval analysis to infer breastfeeding patterns in families by four categories of wealth, we found that birth intervals were close to the national average in pauper and poor families, but much shorter in wealthier families, in the period 1752-74. We also found evidence that many infants especially in wealthier families were missing from observation, consistent with high levels of rural wet-nursing. Both these phenomena declined between 1775 and 1812, suggesting a convergence in breastfeeding practices to the national norm. We used event history analysis, with corrections to aggregate rates for missing infants, to compare mortality rates over time and by wealth category. We found that infant mortality was initially higher in wealthier families, but declined in all groups over the period 1752-1812. We conclude that increases in maternal breastfeeding were probably important in improving survival of infants from wealthier families, however changes in breastfeeding patterns were insufficient to account for the ubiquitous improvements in mortality of urban-born infants in this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1877 the flagship of the Royal Navy’s Australia Station, HMSWolverene, was quarantined in Sydney Harbour. It marked a curious moment in which the dreaded disease smallpox arrived in the city aboard three different vessels within the space of a month. With cases appearing among merchant seamen, naval sailors and local residents, this event exposed numerous antinomies in the health governance of New South Wales. If the colony’s legislative authority over the imperial warships tasked with its protection proved uncertain, so did the extent to which civic power could be exerted over the movements, property and bodies of individual citizens. Exploring the conjoint histories of the naval and medical defence of the Australian colonies, this article argues that 1877 saw these tensions playing out on different scales of sovereignty. Marking a critical point before colonial defence and quarantine strategies turned markedly against ‘Asiatics’, this incident encapsulated the uneasy state of colonial self-government amid a technological transformation of the seaways. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In July 1872, the steamshipHerounderwent quarantine at Sydney’s North Head after a case of smallpox was diagnosed. This article brings together the histories of quarantine, white subjectivity and Pacific mobility through an analysis of theLoganiananewspaper produced by the passengers of theHeroduring their confinement. TheLoganianaprovides a unique insight into the formation of white identities through discussions of race, commerce, science and inter-colonial politics. The case provides an important perspective on a transformative period in Australia’s border history, and also illuminates the tensions accompanying the transition from an older imperial order to political autonomy in the nineteenth-century Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Routine vaccination against smallpox among the general public was discontinued more than three decades ago, resulting in a population that is increasingly susceptible to infection. Moreover, the likelihood of re-introduction of eradicated diseases, such as smallpox, increases with time primarily due to the rapid advancement of biotechnology. Our analysis outlines the relative contribution of each component to the total cost of immunisation as it compares replicating and non-replicating smallpox vaccines for the first time. We calculated the total cost of immunising one person using a replicating vaccine such as ACAM2000 was $139, while using a non-replicating vaccine (IMVAMUNE®) cost $115. Overall, the analysis indicates that the main cost component differences of replicating and non-replicating vaccines are made up of the need for screening, follow-up visit, adverse events, reimbursement and compensation when using replicating vaccines. These costs are almost perfectly balanced against the higher cost of goods, reduced productivity loss and the need for an extra vaccination visit when using a non-replicating vaccine. With the availability of a new vaccine option, preparedness planners will benefit from this analysis to support evidence-based decision-making when preparing a safe, efficacious and cost-effective stockpile and immunisation programme against smallpox. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is the US ready for a biological attack using Ebola virus or Anthrax? Will vaccine developers be able to produce a Zika virus vaccine, before the epidemic spreads around the world? A recent report by The Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense argues that the USis not readyfor these challenges, however,technologies and capabilities that could address these deficiencies are within reach. Vaccine technologies have advanced and readiness has improved in recent years, due to advances in sequencing technology and computational power making the ‘vaccines on demand’ concept a reality. Building a robust strategy to design effective biodefense vaccines from genome sequences harvested by real-time biosurveillance will benefit from technologies that are being brought to bear on the cancer cure ‘moonshot’. When combined with flexible vaccine production platforms, vaccines on demand will relegate expensive and, in some cases, insufficiently effective vaccine stockpiles to the dust heap of history. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Smallpox has shaped human history, from the earliest human civilizations well into the 20th century. With high mortality rates, rapid transmission, and serious long-term effects on survivors, smallpox was a much-feared disease. The eradication of smallpox represents an unprecedented medical victory for the lasting benefit of human health and prosperity. Concerns remain, however, about the development and use of the smallpox virus as a biological weapon, which necessitates the need for continued vaccine development. Smallpox vaccine development is thus a much-reviewed topic of high interest. This review focuses on the current state of smallpox vaccines and their context in biodefense efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the Canary Islands the sea was as a defence against disease. There was a constant fear of epidemics arriving by sea, not only because of the potentially high death toll, but because it could have a seriously detrimental effect on trade. As well as the local impact of disease, health control was important because the Canary Islands acted as an important buffer zone in the control of infection in the Spanish-American trade. Central and local administrations were created to manage health and to control the risk of disease entering the ports and to prevent epidemics from spreading to the interior of the islands. All arriving ships were inspected and any suspicious vessels were quarantined to contain any contagion. Specific quarantine areas were designated and these were developed with facilities such as infirmaries for the sick. Despite these measures the administrative control was weak and epidemics spread through the islands on a number of occasions throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the provision of medical and sanitary services by the British colonial authorities in Sierra Leone between 1895 and 1922. Focusing on the war period, it addresses the complex mix of variables which shaped Colonial Office policy towards public health, and concludes that colonial officials and the administration in Freetown were guilty of a partial abdication of their responsibility to their subjects. Throughout the period under review, the peculiar apathy exhibited by Colonial Office officials, notions of pseudo-scientific racism, the dearth of medical personnel and financial constraints, compounded by the strong, strangling arm of bureaucracy, combined to compromise public health in Sierra Leone. While the efforts of medical authorities were largely encumbered by administrative and authoritarian approaches, and while sanitary and health officers bickered over policy, Africans were left to their own devices in the midst of a smallpox epidemic and the world-ravaging influenza pandemic. The article traces the aetiology of disease in Sierra Leone and shows that by 1922 colonial approaches to public health were yet to be modified to suit the health needs of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whenever cultures meet, exchange is inevitable. There will be exchanges of goods, of languages, of cultures, and of disease. The epidemics and pandemics sparked by European expansion in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were devastating but ultimately encouraged scholars to think critically about disease and its origins. By examining the language and ideas of first-hand accounts of plague, scurvy, syphilis, and smallpox, the evolution of European theories of disease can be traced from the Justinian Plague of 560 AD to the London Plague of 1625 AD. Examining the impact that the European voyages of discovery had on theories of disease shows that expansionism served to catalyze the development of our modern germ theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smallpox was eradicated by the World Health Organization in 1980. Before its eradication thedisease had a mortality rate upwards of 50% and had a significant impact on society. During theAmerican Revolutionary war, smallpox outbreaks were impeding the American war effort until1777 when George Washington carried out a mass inoculation campaign in the ContinentalArmy that reduced the mortality from smallpox to less than 2%. Inoculation was an early formof vaccination that used live virus from active pustules to induce a milder, but still sometimesdeadly, case of disease. Washington has been credited with helping to ease the burden ofsmallpox on the Army which improved the odds of success against the British. When EdwardJenner’s vaccine reached America it was more readily accepted by political and medical leadersdue the success of Washington’s inoculation campaign. The Founding Fathers argued thatsmallpox vaccination was the greatest discovery in modern medicine and they were likely correctthat it helped to usher in the modern era of vaccinology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of protein-RNA granules is a part of both natural cellular function (P-bodies and nuclear HNRNPs) and the response to cellular stress (stress granules and ND10 bodies). To better understand the role of stress-induced granules in viral infection, we have studied the ability of cells to restrict poxvirus replication through the formation of antiviral granules (AVGs). Of cells infected with a wild-type poxvirus, a small number spontaneously formed AVGs. In these AVG-positive cells, viral gene expression was inhibited. The addition of compounds that altered RNA helicase activity, induced oxidative stress, or stimulated translation initiation factor phosphorylation significantly increased the number of AVG-positive cells. When AVGs formed, both viral translation and titers were decreased even when host translation persisted. Treatment with the antiviral compound isatin β-thiosemicarbazone (IBT), a compound that was used to treat smallpox infections, induced AVGs, suggesting a role for these structures in the pharmacological inhibition of poxvirus replication. These findings provide evidence that AVGs are an innate host response that can be exogenously stimulated to combat virus infection. Since small molecules are able to stimulate AVG formation, it is a potential target for new antiviral development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article sheds new light on the outbreak of smallpox at Sydney Cove in 1789. It draws on local Eora traditions, corroborated by medical and historical sources, as a basis for gaining fresh insights into this event, for reviewing recent literature, and for re-examining several circumstances that could have led to the outbreak. The records suggest that the marines landed at Port Jackson with insufficient manpower and insufficient equipment for the tasks they were to confront. I argue that by early 1789 the colony faced huge difficulties, from the number of indigenous people opposing the settlers, from problems with agriculture, and from the lack of marines' capability to defend the settlement, that deploying smallpox became a viable option as a means of defence. This article concludes that, on balance, British officials probably spread smallpox as the only means left to defend the colony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-reactive immunity occurs when infection with or vaccination against one virus protects against another related family member. A search for homologues of the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein revealed that it is composed of thousands of intercalating and overlapping viral matches of pentapeptide or longer gapped consensi, belonging to over 70% of the currently sequenced virome, infecting all kingdoms from bacteria to man. It was also highly homologous to proteins from the Visna/Maedi and other ovine viruses, while other proteins (nef/tat/gag/pol) were homologous to proteins from the equine infectious anaemia virus and HTLV-2/HTLV-3 viruses. This phenomenon suggests that horizontal gene transfer from coinfecting RNA and DNA viruses to retroviruses is extensive, providing a route for the subsequent insertion of non-retroviral genes into human and other genomes via retroviral integration. This homology includes all viruses for which vaccines already exist. Cross-reactive immunity may be operative in AIDS, as Vaccinia vaccination decreases viral replication in HIV-1 infected patients' cells, for the CCR5 tropic form. Measles, Dengue virus, or GB virus C infections also decrease the HIV-1 viral load. A resumption of Vaccinia/smallpox vaccination might be expected to have a significant effect on the AIDS pandemic, and a careful study of the potential uses of other existing viral and bacterial vaccines merits close attention. This phenomenon may also be relevant to other recalcitrant viruses, bacteria, and parasites for which no vaccine exists and the armory of existing vaccines may have a role to play in diseases other than those for which they were designed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the mathematical epidemiology used to eradicate smallpox and its lessons to eradicate other human infections. It highlights the efforts by mathematical epidemiologist Daniel Bernoulli to quantify the inoculation and suggest variolation to eradicate the disease. It also discusses the geometrical interpretation and the use of herd immunity to eradicate the disease, which shows similarity with other viral diseases containing herd immunity but have varying approximations.

The Atlantic slave trade represents the largest forced migration of humans in recorded history. Using an anonymous black woman as a critical point of entry into the slave ship experience, this essay explores the spatial hierarchies of trauma in the middle passage and assesses the material, psychological, and emotional context of death aboard an eighteenth-century slave ship. This study, moreover, considers the process by which enslaved people were commodified both in life and in death, how ship captains treated disease outbreaks, and the context in which an infectious risk was calculated. The article furthermore highlights the process of enslavement, disease, terror, and ultimate death within the broader history of New World slavery. In so doing, it furthers scholarly approaches to the Atlantic slave trade, middle passage studies, gender and slavery, as well as the medical history of slavery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay uses the career of the inoculating physician James Kilpatrick as an example of how itinerant medical entrepreneurs navigated the various knowledge spaces of the British Atlantic World. Moving from Ireland to Charleston and finally to London, Kilpatrick's involvement with smallpox inoculation in the diverse peripheries of the British empire in the early eighteenth century provided him with the experience of controversy and experiment that paved the way for his ascent as a philosopher of inoculation within metropolitan and continental medical circles. This article focuses in particular on Kilpatrick's time in Charleston, an area rich in African and British migrants and then an important outpost of medical information and experimental inquiry within the interrelated medical circuits of the Atlantic world. This article shows how Kilpatrick leveraged the circuits of information that defined the town in order to promote the practice of inoculation and to create a medical and scientific persona that fit the expectations of Lowcountry audiences. Kilpatrick's efforts to promote inoculation in Charleston ultimately failed, but he put his colonial experiences to work in the service of building a metropolitan identity, traveling to London and publishing a pamphlet on the practice of inoculation in Charleston. This paper argues that it was experiences of controversy and failure on the British periphery that taught individuals such as Kilpatrick how to establish their authority as they navigated the medical cultures of the Atlantic world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an examination into the history of the smallpox epidemic which spread through the Great Plains in the early 1780s and its impact on the inter-tribal relations of the region. The author asserts that the disease was a major factor in defining the political dynamics and settlement patterns of the region which would then in turn influence U.S. expansion through the West in the following century. A detailed analysis of the political relations between Native Americans from 1780 to 1782 is then given, mapping the rise of the Sioux nation.

Control and reduction of infectious diseases is a key to attaining the Millennium Development Goals. An important element of this work is the successful immunisation, especially in resource-poor countries. Mass immunisation, most intensively in the case of eradication, depends on a combination of reliable demand (e.g. public willingness to comply with the vaccine protocol) and effective supply (e.g. robust, generally state-led, vaccine delivery). This balance of compliance and enforceability is, quintessentially, socio-political in nature - conditioned by popular perceptions of disease and risk, wider conditions of economic development and poverty, technical aspects of vaccine delivery, and the prevailing international norms regarding power relations between states and peoples. In the past 100 years, three out of six disease eradication programmes have failed. The explanations for failure have focused on biotechnical and managerial or financial issues. Less attention is paid to socio-political aspects. Yet socio-political explanations are key. Eradication is neither inherently prone to failure, nor necessarily doomed in the case of polio. However, eradication, and similar mass immunisation initiatives, which fail to address social and political realities of intervention may be. A comparison of the smallpox and polio eradication programmes illustrates the importance of disease-specific socio-political analysis in programme conceptualisation, design, and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dose-response data for Variola major (V. major), the causative agent of smallpox, were obtained from the open literature, summarized, and fitted with three dose-response models. It is known from prior outbreak experience that there is generally a difference in infectivity of the agent and its subsequent mortality depending on the age of the patient. A source of animal dose-response data were found with age delineation for the exposure group (suckling mice, intraperitoneal exposure). This delineation was used to adapt current dose-response models to include an age dependency parameter. The degree of the models' fit to the data was ascertained using maximum likelihood estimation (MLE). The effect of host age could be described quantitatively using modifications to the beta Poisson and exponential dose-response models. The modifications improvement in the accuracy of risk prediction by 72% for the beta Poisson model and 7% for the exponential model, compared to the original (unmodified) models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of cell culture systems for virus propagation has led to major advances in virus vaccine development. Primary and diploid cell culture systems are now being replaced by the use of continuous cell lines (CCLs). These substrates are gaining increasing acceptance from regulatory authorities as improved screening technologies remove fears regarding their potential oncogenic properties. The Vero cell line is the most widely accepted CCL by regulatory authorities and has been used for over 30 years for the production of polio and rabies virus vaccines. The recent licensure of a Vero cell-derived live virus vaccine (ACAM2000, smallpox vaccine) has coincided with an explosion in the development of a range of new viral vaccines, ranging from live-attenuated pediatric vaccines against rotavirus infections to inactivated whole-virus vaccines against H5N1 pandemic influenza. These developments have illustrated the value of this cell culture platform in the rapid development of vaccines against a range of virus diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]