14 DAY TRIAL // A team of researchers from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) say that the elimination of the smallpox vaccine in 1980 allows for a relative of the dangerous virus to develop, and begin infecting susceptible populations.
Three decades ago, the world was happy to have gotten rid of the smallpox virus, which caused severe side-effects, was highly-contagious, and could easily kill its victims.
In fact, it is estimated that the viral agent killed no less than 300 to 500 million people between 1900 and 1980 alone.
An aggressive international campaign of vaccination ensured that smallpox was wiped out by 1979. After that, there was no longer a need for a vaccine.
In a paper published in the latest issue of the esteemed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), experts reveal that a related virus, known as the human monkeypox, has began infecting more and more people in the Africa.
Thus far, the infections appeared predominately in the rural parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, but a small number of cases was also recorded in other African nations, and in the United States as well.
The research team that conducted the investigation is based at the UCLA School of Public Health, and it was led by assistant professor of epidemiology Anne Rimoin.
She reveals that infection with the new virus can cause headaches, fever, possible blindness, severe skin eruptions, swollen lymph nodes. The most extreme cases result in death.
The expert says that there is currently no cure for the condition. “All you can do is provide supportive care. There are no antibiotics. If you survive, the illness eventually runs its course,” Rimoin says.
What's even more worrying is the fact that the new virus was not discovered until fairly recently, even though it has been infecting people in Congo for some time.
The reason for this is that the nation has little to no working medical infrastructure. If hospitals and clinics had existed, then experts here would have signaled the emergence of a new disease.
Analysts say that it's a shame countries such as Congo, which are the most likely to give birth to new diseases, are left unsupervised by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other related organizations.
Keeping an eye on how viruses evolve at this location is key to preventing the emergence of new organisms that paralyze the defenses of the human body.