Live smallpox-causing virus samples stored in two high security labs must not be destroyed, two world-class epidemiologists have urged.
Dr Jean-Vivien Mombouli, of the National Public Health Laboratory, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, and Stephen M Ostroff, Bureau of Epidemiology at the Pennsylvania Department of Health Harrisburg, USA made the plea as world leaders gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, for the World Health Assembly.
Writing an online Comment in The Lancet, the scientists appealed to the international community not to set an arbitrary date for the destruction of the variola virus samples held in two high security labs.
They said outbreaks of the deadly disease are still possible because of the threat of bioterrorism or unknown pockets of remaining disease. Essential countermeasures development work is far from complete, they warn.
The WHA is due to debate again as to whether or not they should set a date for the destruction of these final samples, which are securely stored in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA and the State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology in Russia.
But, argue the authors, it is partly because of these last existing samples that substantial progress has been made in countering the disease.
“New safer vaccines have been developed and more are on the way,” they write. “Now is not the time to truncate these efforts. Full development of smallpox countermeasures is important not only for global security but also for global public health.”
Further research is essential to stop monkey pox – another smallpox-like disease that is an increasing threat in parts of Africa.
"A release of variola anywhere in the world could cause a global pandemic, and Africa would invariably suffer disproportionately – again,” the authors say.
“Wishing for luck and hoping for the best were not the strategies used to eradicate smallpox. It was active plans, robust strategy, and clear goals, despite naysayers, setbacks, and risk of failure.
“The scientists at work on variola countermeasures are guided by the same principles. They have made solid progress but are not yet done. They should be allowed to finish for the good of public health and global security."
The last naturally occurring case of smallpox occurred in 1977, but WHO declared it as eradicated three years later.
Leave a Reply