Top academic tabloid "The Scientist" is frightened by a finding
that smallpox vaccine does not protect from genetically altered vaccinia
being obviously not awared of a basic fact that it does not protect from common
vaccinia as well.
Its my posting to SCIFRAUD of 2 Apr 2003,
Naturally, I've got no response from "The Scientist" on this matter
Thank you Dewey for this addendum to my collection of vaccine idiots
There is a small error in this publication. The trouble is that smallpox
vaccine (aka vaccinia or cowpox virus) protects from smallpox but doesnot
protect
from vaccinia itself. It is easy to prove: if you were vaccinated against
smallpox,
you should have two scars on your forearm. One scar -- from first vaccination
and another -- from revaccination. Usually they are of approximately
the same
size, therefore first vaccination failed to protect you from vaccine
lesion
in response to second exposure.
So it is little wonder that vaccine does not protect from genetically
altered
vaccinia if it does not protect from common vaccinia.
I cross-post this note to "The Scientist". How do you think whether
they'll respond? :))
Actually, I remember I contacted "The Scientist" some time ago with
no effect on a similar
occasion (http://www.orc.ru/~yur77/geison.htm)
--
Dmitriy K. Yuryev
http://www.orc.ru/~yur77
d.yuryev@mtu-net.ru
"Dewey M. McLean" wrote:
>
> John Hewitt wrote (Tue, 01 Apr 2003):
>
> > Has there yet been any major instance of a genetically engineered
bacteria,
> > yeast, plants or animal giving rise to a detected health hazard,
major or
> > otherwise?
>
> Dear John,
>
> An article titled "Recombinant Vaccinia infects lab worker: Development
of pox-like
> lesions suggest vaccination doesn't protect against altered virusus,"
by Ricki
> Lewis (The Scientist website, April 1, 2003) touches upon your topic.
The article
> can be accessed at http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030401/02
It is reproduced
> below the dashed line.
>
> Cordially,
> Dewey McLean
>
>
>
> April 1, 2003
>
> Recombinant Vaccinia infects lab worker
>
> Development of pox-like lesions suggests vaccination
doesn't protect
> against altered viruses. | By Ricki Lewis
>
> Reinstating smallpox vaccination programs to protect
the public against
> bioterrorism is currently a topic of considerable debate.
Some countries
> additionally recommend the practice for laboratory workers
who encounter
> Vaccinia, the cowpox virus that is the basis of the vaccine
and which is
> used as a cassette in other vaccines. Acquiring active
infection by
> working with Vaccinia has been assumed to be unlikely,
but in the March
> 2003 Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Martin Mempel
and colleagues
> at the Technical University, Munich, Germany, describe
a 40-year-old
> Caucasian male who developed pox-like lesions on a finger
on each hand
> after working with Vaccinia (The Journal of Investigative
Dermatology,
> 120:356-258, March, 2003).
>
> Mempel et al. recognized vesicles that gradually turned
into raised, dark
> nodules as similar to those that develop during cowpox
infection. The
> patient had no contact with farm animals, but had worked
with lab strains
> of Vaccinia containing human genes - in particular an
inactivated form of
> the human gene for cytohesin-1, which could impair the
local immune
> response in the skin by interfering with leukocyte adhesion.
The man had
> been vaccinated against smallpox at 1 year old and again
when 10 years
> old.
>
> Microbiological and genetic tests confirmed that recombinant
Vaccinia
> caused the vesicles. Mempel et al. speculate that vaccination
may have
> prevented a more severe reaction - suggesting that US
workers born after
> 1972, when vaccination ceased, could respond with a more
severe reaction.
>
> "The scientist was working with very high concentrations
of recombinant
> Vaccinia virus, which contained an immunomodulating insert
which could
> possibly have changed the virulence," senior author of
the paper
> Heidelore Hofmann told The Scientist.
>
> The particular strain is called Western Reserve, and
this is the first
> report of a lesion from such a laboratory strain without
an obvious
> wound. Hofmann echoed the Centers for Disease Control's
recommendation:
> "Vaccinia vaccination should be mandatory for laboratory
workers and
> medical staff handling Vaccinia virus." European nations
do not have
> specific recommendations, she added.
>
> Links for this article
>
> Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
>
> http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/index.asp
>
> P. Brickley, "National anthrax vaccination urged," The
Scientist, October
> 22, 2002.
>
> http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20021022/07/
>
> M. Mempel et al., "Laboratory acquired infection with
recombinant
> Vaccinia virus containing an immunomodulating construct,"
The Journal of
> Investigative Dermatology, 120:356-258, March, 2003.
>
> http://www.jidonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/120/3/356
>
> Technical University, Munich
>
> http://www.tu-muenchen.de/jshpchooser.tupl
