Containing Bioterrorist Smallpox

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1074674
• Publication Date: 2002-11-14T22:02:27Z
• Authors: M. Elizabeth Hall...; Ira M. Longini; Azhar Nizam; Yang Yang
• Keywords: Herd Immunity; Mass vaccination; Smallpox vaccine

The need for a planned response to deliberate introduction of smallpox has recently become urgent. We constructed stochastic simulator the spread in structured communities compare effectiveness mass vaccination versus targeted close contacts cases. Mass before or immediately after first cases was more effective than preventing and containing epidemics if there no prior herd immunity (that is, immunologic protection within population). postrelease vaccinations increased we assumed that residual adults vaccinated 1972, but vaccination. Under all scenarios, prevented per dose vaccine did Although further research with larger-scale models is needed, our results suggest increasing immunity, perhaps combination preemptive voluntary responders, could enhance postattack intervention. It also help be competitive at both smallpox.