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Politics : Piffer Thread on Political Rantings and Ravings -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (3991)	11/10/2001 7:50:41 PM
From: Alan Smithee	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 14610

Given how contagious the disease is, and the length of time victims are contagious before the onset of symptoms, I think more than "some" would be lost before the problem was recognized. Imagine, a 747, full to capacity (between 416 and 524 passengers) flying from Paris to JFK. Two or three "suicide" infecters who have been infected with smallpox roam the aisles for most of the duration of the flight, sneezing or coughing along the way. At JFK, the passengers disembark. Some stay in New York, but some take flights to Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc. Assuming some fly on a 757-300, another 200+ passengers on each flight could be exposed and infected. IMO, most of these people would be very seriously ill before anyone even figured out what had happened, and post-exposure vaccination would be ineffective. What scares me is that very few alive in this country were alive when the disease was a serious threat to public health. This is not chicken pox we're talking about, or mumps, measles, or strep throat. The disease kills a significant percentage of the people that come down with it. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the mortality rate from smallpox in Europe was around 10%, due largely to resistance built up in the population. During the same period, the mortality rate was closer to 90%. By way of example, in 1509, Spain attempted to settle Hispanola for sugar cane plantation. By 1518 every single one of the 2.5 million native aboriginals were dead. The result was that the Spanish imported African slaves to provide labor in the sugar plantations. The Aztec civilization was largely decimated as a result of smallpox, as were significant numbers of the Iroquois and Huron tribes. The point, IMO, is that immunization of the American population for smallpox stopped in 1972. The efficacy of immunizations given prior to that are questionable. The disease is a killer. Is this something we want to take a chance with?

To: Lane3 who wrote (3991)	11/12/2001 11:27:33 AM
From: jcky	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14610

Hi Karen, I agree with your assessment. Initially, the World Health Organization attempted to eradicate small pox by vaccinating every single man, woman and child on the face of this planet. And with good success. But they soon found out that a directed vaccination plan against areas of a small pox outbreak (vaccinations of all individuals within the vicinity that have the highest risk of contraction), coupled with a sound quarantine strategy, worked significantly better without exposing everyone to the potential side effects of the vaccine. Now if this strategy worked in densely populated areas of the world like India then it should also work today. If the small pox vaccination were offered today, it would raise more issues than answers right now. The program must be offered to all individuals (and this must include non-resident aliens) in our country, regardless of socioeconomic class, and paid for by US tax dollars. Otherwise, this could potentially develop into a political debate over basic health care services for the rich versus the poor. And whenever this debate surfaces, it is inevitable that someone somewhere will bring up the nasty "R" word to implicate social injustice. If the vaccines were offered to everyone or individuals were given the choice of whether or not to be vaccinated, there still is the sticky issue of how to properly inform potential vaccinees of the possible benefits/risks and how to set up vaccination stations which provide equal access to all individuals in our country (hospitals? doctors' offices? postal stations? public schools?). And when that fatality does occurs as the result of the potential side effect from the vaccinations, there will be some lawyers somewhere who will blame society as the root cause of their clients' ills and sue everyone in the process.