Smallpox News and Research

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Smallpox is a highly contagious disease caused by the variola virus, a member of the Orthopox virus family. It is one of the most devastating diseases known to humanity, with a mortality rate as high as 30%. In 1967, the World Health Organization embarked upon an intensified vaccination campaign to eliminate smallpox, which culminated in the successful eradication of the disease globally by 1980.

By the mid-1980s, there were only two known repositories of variola virus: the Institute of Virus Preparations in Russia, and the US CDC. The events in the US in September and October 2001 highlighted the risk that the variola virus might be used as an agent of bioterrorism. Governments around the world are taking precautionary measures to be ready to deal with a potential smallpox outbreak.

No more needles? Future vaccines could be delivered by a puff of air

In the future, vaccines may be delivered with a puff of air rather than a needle, according to the promising results of new research presented at a meeting of the American Chemistry Society this March.

27 Mar 2023

Novel web-based tool deoptimizes genetic sequences based on different codon usage

A new software tool developed by Texas Biomedical Research Institute and collaborators can help scientists and vaccine developers quickly edit genetic blueprints of pathogens to make them less harmful.

16 Mar 2023

Experts demonstrate clear differences in virulence among the major clades of mpox virus

Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have removed a major roadblock to better understanding of mpox (formerly, monkeypox).

15 Feb 2023

Comparative mass spectrometry strategy determines the viral and cellular candidate proteins of poxvirus

Pox viruses get a head start on infecting a host by delivering a package of proteins that interferes directly with the innate immune system of the host.

15 Jul 2022

Scientists restructure the genome of E. coli using fragments extracted from mummy

An international group led by McMaster University researchers, in partnership with the University of Paris Cité, has recognized and reconfigured the first ancient genome of E. coli using fragments derived from a 16th-century mummy’s gallstone.

17 Jun 2022

Research reveals how a building block protein assembles to form poxvirus scaffold

Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University have revealed how poxviruses build their scaffold - a temporary protein coat that forms and disappears as the virus matures.

1 Apr 2022

Scientists analyze the molecular machinery of poxviruses at an atomic level

Poxviruses have found a unique way of translating their genes into proteins in the infected organism. A team of researchers from Würzburg shows for the first time how the molecular machinery involved works at an atomic level.

24 Sep 2021

Three plausible solutions mitigates zoonotic risk associated with intensive animal agriculture

As early as the Neolithic period (circa 3900 BC), the domestication of animals likely led to the development of diseases including measles and smallpox. Since then, zoonotic disease has led to other major transnational outbreaks including HIV, Ebola, SARS, MERS, and H1N1 swine flu, among others.

3 Jun 2021

National DNA Day 2021: An Interview with Professor George Church

In celebration of National DNA Day, AZoLifeSciences interviews renowned DNA expert Professor George Church about his life-long career in DNA research.

From Harvard Medical School 23 Apr 2021

Study shows removal of specific gene makes poxviruses harmless

According to a new study, the removal of a single gene makes poxviruses—a lethal family of viral infections that spread from animals to humans—harmless.

From University of Surrey 22 Sep 2020