I get the creeps every time smallpox is mentioned. It is supposedly eradicated, and there hasn't been a case in quite a while, but there are still some vials of it floating around. Which is exactly the problem. When it was decided smallpox had officially been eradicated, the U.S. and USSR each kept a relatively amount in government labs. I guess the idea was that if it somehow came back we would be able to make some vaccine (although not nearly enough in the case of an epidemic). Guess what? Some of it went missing after the dissolution of the USSR. It scares me to death to think of terrorists getting their hands on it. If you haven't read anything about the effects of smallbox, let's just say it is a nasty, nasty way to die. It is highly contagious and we don't have the ability to make very much vaccine.
Hold the phone -- it looks like I am out of date. What I just said was from an article in The New Yorker several years ago the same writer (Preston?) who has written about other epidemics. Apparently government policy changed after 9/11 and there is now enough vaccine to vaccinate every American. It's still not something we ever want to see but not quite as horrifying as it was. A few years ago a smallpox outbreak would have been Biblical in its consequences.
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/vaccination/facts.asp>Can't believe I missed that one. The smallpox vaccine as well. Not to mention the polio vaccine too. You may find this interesting:
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http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~haas/learningcenter/diseasesold.html>
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>>Penicillin was a pretty good idea too.
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>>>That's exactly what I was thinking - not to mention the decrease in the number of women dying during childbirth! How about the invention of indoor plumbing, washing machines and dryers, the microwave, and especially the shower? Very nice inventions!
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>>>>>As a woman, I can really appreciate many of the inventions since the victorian period! There are some things I love about that period, but I wouldn't want to be a woman without money (and maids and servants) during that time. :o)
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>>>>This'll make the guys cringe, but in my view, two of the best inventions of the 20th century were the sanitary napkin and the tampon.
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>>>>Tamar
