Abstract
You might remember getting your smallpox vaccination, but the chances are your immune system does not. Results of a US study indicate that smallpox vaccinations given before the disease was eradicated in the late 1970s have now lost their effectiveness. In the University of Maryland study of 621 previously vaccinated people, almost 94% had lost their immunity to smallpox, reports New Scientist. However, British and US health officials’ plans for dealing with a potential smallpox attack are not counting on the general public being immune. Research from the University of Pennsylvania could make smallpox research safer and contribute to development of a safer vaccine. Using previously published sequence data of smallpox inhibitor of complement enzymes (SPICE), researchers reverse-engineered a similar protein from vaccinia, the virus used in smallpox vaccines. The recombinant allowed them to study the effects of SPICE safely, and it was shown to be 100 times more potent at inactivating complement than the vaccinia protein. AV
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