CDC Probes Death Of Nurse Vaccinated For Smallpox

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CDC Probes Death Of Nurse Vaccinated For Smallpox

3-26-3

 

ATLANTA (Reuters) - U.S. health officials said on Tuesday they were

investigating whether the smallpox vaccine had contributed to the

death last weekend of a Maryland nurse and serious side effects in

six other people recently inoculated against the virus.

 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has been

spearheading a campaign to vaccinate almost half a million front

line health care workers and technicians, said it was recommending

that people with heart disease not be vaccinated until an

investigation was completed.

 

" We're adding a temporary deferral for the smallpox vaccine for

persons who have been diagnosed with a history of heart disease, "

CDC spokeswoman Karen Hunter said. Hunter added that the

unidentified Maryland woman had suffered from heart disease before

being vaccinated.

 

Earlier this month, top U.S. health officials said that reports of

side-effects linked to the current smallpox program were overblown.

Smallpox kills about 30 percent of its victims and scars the

remainder for life. It was eradicated in nature in 1979.

 

The United States stopped routine smallpox vaccinations in 1972, but

decided to resume them for select groups last year as fears grew

that the virus could be used as a weapon by radical groups or

countries like Iraq.

 

When administered in the past the vaccine killed between one to two

out of every million people inoculated and caused others to suffer

brain damage. But it has never before been linked to heart problems.

 

Maryland state health department spokesman J.B. Hanson told Reuters

a preliminary autopsy of the Maryland nurse, who died on Sunday

after receiving a smallpox vaccination on March 18, showed the cause

of death to be " some sort of heart condition " although that was not

yet certain.

 

" I can assure you they are vigorously looking into this, " Hanson

said, noting the Department of Health of the neighboring state of

Virginia, where the woman died, was assisting Maryland and the CDC.

 

" At this point there's no correlation between the vaccination and

her death, " Hanson said.

 

He could not give the nurse's name or age, but said she worked at a

private Maryland hospital and was one of 414 state health workers

who had been vaccinated so far as part of the national vaccination

effort.

 

If confirmed, however, it could be the first smallpox vaccine-

related death since the start of the national vaccination campaign

in January.

 

President Bush ordered the vaccination program late last year amid

growing fears that smallpox and other deadly pathogens could be used

in a bioterrorist attack.

 

Five Americans died in 2001 when letters with anthrax bacteria were

mailed to U.S. media organizations and politicians. No one has ever

been charged in connection with the attacks.

 

But the federal government's smallpox vaccination plans have been

marred by concerns about side-effects as well as a sharp dispute

over who should pay for those who become sick after being

vaccinated.

 

The vaccine being used comes from 30-year-old stocks. It uses a live

virus called vaccinia that is related to smallpox and can have

severe side-effects, mostly in young children and those with weak

immune systems.

 

Some 500,000 troops are being vaccinated and the U.S. Health and

Human Services Department hopes to eventually vaccinate 450,000

health care workers in the first round of the program.

 

The CDC says about 20,000 civilian health workers have been

vaccinated across the country so far against smallpox, so they would

be ready to vaccinate others and treat patients in case of an attack.