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  • TV Highlights This Week

News Articles: smallpox

Smallpox and mpox are related diseases — and the eradication of the former inadvertently creating an opening for the latter. At left: An illustration from 1884 depicts smallpox pustules on the face and hand of a woman. At right: A 1997 photograph shows the palms of a woman who contracted mpox during an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.<br>

Tagged as: 

  • Global Health

The end of smallpox was ... the beginning for mpox

Wiping out smallpox had an unintended consequence: the rise of mpox in the past few years. Here's the story — starting with patient zero for mpox back in 1970.

October 08, 2024
|
By:
  • Gabrielle Emanuel
Rahima Banu had the last recorded case of naturally occurring variola major smallpox, a deadly strain of the virus, in 1975. At left: Banu in her mother's arms as a small child. At right: Banu today, close to 50 years old, lives in a small village in Bangladesh with her husband, Rafiqul Islam, and their children.

Tagged as: 

  • Perspective

The improbable victory over smallpox holds lessons for health threats in 2024

Physician Céline Gounder traveled to India and Bangladesh to bring back unheard stories from the eradication of smallpox, many from health workers whose voices have been missing from the record.

March 18, 2024
|
By:
  • Dr. Céline Gounder
A doctor checks chest x-rays of a tuberculosis patient at a clinic in Mumbai, India, that treats those with drug-resistant strains of the disease. Two new studies look at how drug resistance might be overcome.

Tagged as: 

  • Global Health

TB is good at resisting antibiotics. Here are some new ideas to outsmart the bacteria

Two new studies draw on data from more than 12,000 patients to help figure out ways to battle antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis.

August 11, 2022
|
By:
  • Ari Daniel
Kyle Planck, who has recovered from a painful case of monkeypox, has joined advocacy groups and pleaded with elected officials to make the antiviral pills TPOXX more available.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Getting monkeypox treatment is easier, but still daunting and confusing

Though doctors and advocates have helped speed up access to the antiviral pills – of which the U.S. has enough to treat 1.7 million people – health providers are few and forms are still required.

July 30, 2022
|
By:
  • Pien Huang
Smallpox vaccines being administered in Paris in 1941. When the disease was eradicated and vaccination came to a stop, that created an opening for its virus relative monkeypox.

Tagged as: 

  • Global Health

Scientists warned us about monkeypox in 1988. Here's why they were right.

Their prediction stemmed from the eradication of smallpox. Here's what they said more than three decades ago — and how it foreshadowed events of 2022.

May 28, 2022
|
By:
  • Michaeleen Doucleff
GPB News NPR

Tagged as: 

  • Global Health

Coronavirus FAQ: What does endemic mean — and are we there yet?

Two years ago, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. Now there's talk that we may be approaching a new stage for SARS-CoV-2. Let's unpack the word "endemic."

March 11, 2022
|
By:
  • Sheila Mulrooney Eldred
Left: A drawing of a human with a cow head holding a needle menacingly toward a child as he administers a tainted smallpox vaccination was meant to sow distrust of smallpox vaccines. Right: Protesters against COVID-19 vaccinations hold a rally in Sydney in February.

Tagged as: 

  • Global Health

PHOTOS: Vaccine History Repeats Itself — Sometimes

From the first vaccine (for smallpox) the questions have been the same. How do we transport it? Who's next to get it? Why so much hesitancy? The answers can be similar — or dramatically different.

May 14, 2021
|
By:
  • Michele Abercrombie,
  • Xueying Chang,
  • and 2 more
The World Health Organization-approved proof of vaccination form is used these days for yellow fever. It's just a coincidence that the card itself is yellow.

Tagged as: 

  • Global Health

The Vaccine Passport Debate Actually Began In 1897 Over A Plague Vaccine

That's when a vaccine for plague was invented — and authorities began to consider requiring proof of vaccination before visiting pilgrimage sites in India. The debate has raged ever since.

April 08, 2021
|
By:
  • Fran Kritz
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu learned of a way to stop smallpox from women in the Ottoman Empire in the early 18th century. Trying to persuade her country to do the same proved tricky.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

A 300-Year-Old Tale Of One Woman's Quest To Stop A Deadly Virus

In 1721, London was in the grips of a deadly smallpox epidemic. One woman learned how to stop it, but her solution sowed political division.

March 08, 2021
|
By:
  • Geoff Brumfiel

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