Smallpox

As we celebrated immunisation week in the last week of April, there is a need to talk about the tremendous progress the country has made since the time Anna Dusthall, a three-year-old child from Mumbai became the first person in India to receive smallpox vaccine on June 14, 1802; to post-Independence India, when in 1948, the BCG vaccine laboratory was set up at the King Institute, Guindy, Chennai and other national institutes and a number of private vaccine manufacturers came up; to 30 years late

📰 13 news sources reporting on this story.

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When historians talk about the eradication of smallpox, they often start with Geneva, Washington, or New Delhi. But the turning point came earlier, and further south, in Nigeria, in the late 1960s, where a young American epidemiologist made a practical decision that reshaped global health. William H. Foege, who died on January 24 at the age of 89, was not yet a giant of public health when he arrived in northern Nigeria. He was a field doctor facing a familiar problem in post-independence Africa: too little money, too few vaccines, and a disease that moved faster than governments. Smallpox was still endemic across large parts of Nigeria at the time. The vaccine existed, but vaccinating entire populations in a vast country with weak logistics and poor cold-chain infrastructure was unrealisti...
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US states have relied on vaccine mandates since the 1800s, when a smallpox vaccine offered the first successful protection against a disease that had killed millions. More than a century later, Florida's top public health official said vaccine requirements are unethical and unnecessary for high vac... Source: Al Jazeera Online - Read Full Article

The Rural Development and Food Ministry presented 20 new measures aimed at controlling sheep pox. Authorities said the proposals, developed by the National Scientific Committee for Smallpox Management and Control, include updating the sanctions framework, relaxing restrictions ahead of the festive season and reinforcing veterinary staff. The measures also establish new certified laboratories, maintain 24-hour disinfection stations and control feed movements. Farm-level actions include appointing authorized veterinarians, compulsory farmer training and certification for the movement of animals and animal products. While regional interventions involve operating isolation and quarantine stations and ensuring early culling and burial in accordance with health regulations. The dairy industry wi...
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The deadline expired on September 11 and we got an extension of six months, because the political decision to transfer the integration of OPEKEPE to ADEA has been made and the European Commission must monitor all these steps, explained the Minister of Rural Development

A "huge misunderstanding" regarding the Commission's letter on agricultural subsidies was raised on Friday morning by the Minister of Rural Development, Kostas Tsiaras, who urged farmers not to conceal cases of smallpox in sheep.

"Obviously, we are hearing things that have nothing to do with the process we have followed so far, to consolidate OPEKEPE, on the one hand, and to meet the requirements set by the European Commission, on the other hand, so that there are no fines for any reason whatsoever. The deadline expired on...
Read More: https://en.protothema.gr/2025/09/19/tsiaras-misunderstanding-with-the-commissions-letter-on-agricultural-subsidies-farmers-should-not-hide-smallpox-cases/

Over 3% of livestock has been culled - The threat to feta cheese, the risk of further spread of the animal disease that killed 263,000 animals in 13 months - Greek sheep and goat breeds face extinction

Greek sheep and goat farming is on the brink of a lockdown, as smallpox spreads from region to re...

Source: protothemanews.com - Read Full Article

Anti-vaccine lies cost children's lives

In 1796, the smallpox vaccine (then known as cowpox vaccine) was the first vaccine to be developed against a contagious disease. The modern smallpox vaccine emerged in the 20th century. From 1958 to 1977, the World Health Organization conducted a global vacci...

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Among public health professionals, Dr. Foege was almost without peer -- the grand old man of public health, a field that many feel is under siege by the Trump administration. His successors at the CDC, the nation's primary public health agency, often sought his counsel. In 2012, President Obama awar... Source: The Boston Globe - Read Full Article

The debate on vaccination as a means of dealing with sheep has come back with a vengeance recently, as the epizootic continues to plague the Greek livestock industry.

Since August 20, 2024, when the disease first emerged, more than 275,000 sheep and goats have been killed, leaving behind a chain of...

Source: protothemanews.com - Read Full Article