Review Article
Smallpox: New Perspectives Regarding Risk Assessment & Management
Jan-Cedric Hansen*
Director of European Strategies at MEDCOM, a Military Medicine Division of StratAdviser Ltd, UK
- *Corresponding Author:
- Jan-Cedric Hansen
Director of European Strategies at MEDCO
a Military Medicine division of StratAdviser Ltd, UK
E-mail: jc.hansen@stratadviser.com
Received Date: August 25, 2012; Accepted Date: September 28, 2012; Published Date: September 29, 2012
Citation: Hansen JC (2012) Smallpox: New Perspectives Regarding Risk Assessment & Management. J Bioterr Biodef S4:002. doi:10.4172/2157- 2526.S4-002
Copyright: © 2012 Hansen JC. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Although official stockpile of smallpox are limited to two sites, everlasting rumors of bioterrorism use of this virus make its risk assessment controversial. After a quick overview of the history of smallpox and its current situational analysis, the author presents his own vision regarding likelihood of smallpox weaponization and new trends regarding its risk management. In particular, four scenarios on how to get hold of smallpox samples are discussed as well as the following steps of potential deliberate release in light of feasibility from the terrorist standpoint. Following, early detection strategies are overviewed with a special focus on their respective limitations. Then up to date therapeutic armamentarium, including drugs under development is detailed. In conclusion, the author exposes a surprising paradox regarding the potential use of smallpox as an agent of bioterrorism by Al-Qaeda terrorists and alike.
