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Same Old Diseases, New Fears.(Gennady Lepyoshkin spoke about smallpox)(Brief Article)(Interview)
Recent revelations about an alleged 1971 Soviet field test of weaponized smallpox that accidentally killed three civilians and nearly caused a massive outbreak is raising alarms: does the world need new vaccines to protect citizens from terrorists using potent smallpox strains? NEWSWEEK's Eve Conant spoke with Russian microbiologist Gennady Lepyoshkin, who survives on meager U.S. grants designed to keep now unemployed former bioweaponeers out of the employ of so-called rogue states:
How close would you have to be to a weaponized source to get infected?
The highest possibility for infection would be between two to five kilometers. After that, the concentration level goes down, the effectiveness diminishes. The usual form of transmission is from coughing, sneezing or touching the lesions on someone else's skin; for example, if you rubbed up against them on a tram in a big city.
The United States is debating whether to make smallpox vaccines available to the public. Could vaccines fight weaponized smallpox? Is it worth producing these vaccines if such powerful strains of smallpox are out there?
At the moment, we have no defense. The vaccines should be made by all means; they will still work. If some terrorist act should happen right now, there would be very large biological losses. The old generation that was vaccinated has lost their immunity. This is a very scary thing and we are not ready for it now. A number of specialists who are working in this field are vaccinated, but the bulk ...
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...Soviet biological-weapons program. Anthrax, plague, smallpox and a half-dozen other diseases, in addition to vaccines...to Uzbekistan and the United States," Mr. Hayes said. Gennady Lepyoshkin, who during the Soviet period ran a huge anthrax-production...
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...20--Widespread vaccinations for smallpox are dangerous and probably unnecessary...inform the current national debate about smallpox vaccination." The studies highlight...breaks out naturally. The last case of smallpox was 25 years ago. However, three in...
