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Friday, February 28, 2003No "potentially life-threatening" reactions were experienced by any of the more than 7,350 people who received smallpox vaccinations in the four weeks that ended last Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. There was one "moderate-to-severe adverse event," a case of "generalized vaccinia" in a 39-year-old woman, the CDC said. Ten days after receiving the vaccine, she developed a rash on her chest and back that progressed to scattered pustules two days later, the CDC said. She was treated as an outpatient with antihistamines and the rash began clearing up in a few days. Tests are pending, the CDC said. A few people showed minor side effects, including fever, headache or "malaise," and probably several other such cases occurred but were not reported, the CDC said. Compare that to the headline in my morning newspaper today, Smallpox Vaccine Recipients Get Sick, and the opening paragraph: Officials are investigating medical problems in three health care workers who became ill after receiving the smallpox vaccine, though only one appears to have had a reaction to the inoculation. Of the other two, one with known coronary artery disease had a heart attack, and the other had an attack of gallstones. Neither illness has any remote connection to the vaccine. But you have to read through the whole article to find that out. Why even bother to mention them in the first place? posted by Sydney on 2/28/2003 08:15:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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