The world can't end yet I haven't gotten my S2000! I would appreciate if the ending would wait until I get my S and put at LEAST 10,000 miles on it.

 

I think there will be a terrorist attack here on home soil if we go to war against Iraq.

 

Seriously I have to admit I feel pretty uneasy myself. I really hope things get resolved this time around but I'm afraid it is possible we are in for another event.

 

I recent read a news article about the WHO issuing an alert about some unknown illness that has caused a few deaths so far from respiratory issues.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/03/16/myste...ease/index.html

 

That vaccine is very safe and has been around for a long time.
I'm 36 and I along with everyone else about my age and older
got it.

I'd take it again if it were offered. Smallpox is really, really bad.

 

I don't know about the safe part... It's very rare that something happens but for a few... death is a side effect
They use a live vaccinia virus which I guess has similar surface proteins to cause immunity.. As the problem with any live virus vaccine, infection with that virus is a major side effect.
While most of the adverse reactions occur in immunocomprimised patients (where the vaccine is contraindicated) pretty serious side effects result.
In fact due to the disease being virtually erradicated and the fact that there are complications from the vaccine... is the very reason vaccinations were stopped... the 5-10 people a year that died from the vaccine could not justify the immunization as the occurance of the disease was virtually zero.
All we really need though is enough people to be vaccinated to break the chain of transmission......

 

I also had the vaccine as a child, even after most of the world had stopped using it, as I was born in Africa. I seem to be fine

All vaccines have risk. Vaccinia is not only the oldest and most proven and understood (no coincidence that the word vaccination is derived from its name) but probably one of the safest too. You have a lot more chance of being hit by a bus than dying from vaccinia, but it's debatable whether you have more chance of catching small pox if you don't have the vaccine What's more if there were an outbreak, the disease spreads slowly enough that there would be plenty of opportunity to halt it. Not so with a new influenza strain for which there is no vaccine yet. And yes the respiratory illness in the news these last few days may be the dreaded new influenza. Even if it's not it's only a matter of time. Pretty tough to stop that one with a war, and precious little money and attention seems to be devoted to it.

 

Well not all vaccines have risk as the recombinant protein vaccines(i think this is what they are called) as they are just viral proteins and are not infectious but will induce immunity.
Live viral vaccines by far are the most dangerous, followed by inactivated or dead virus vaccines, and then recombinant proteins (i'm pretty sure as I just took my shelf exam in virology..could be wrong though). As vaccinia is a live virus I would consider it to be pretty dangerous in comparison to other vaccines.

I do agree with you on the old influenza though... Good news though.. it seems that several of the patients in the hospitals overseas are beginning to recover... but only time will tell.

 

The main risk of vaccines is severe allergic reaction. This can happen any time you put foreign protein in your body.

Being a live virus doesn't make something dangerous. It has to be a dangerous live virus Vaccinia is not except for a vanishingly small number of people.

 

Right but at the same time almost any infectous pathogen is dangerous to an immunocompromised patient (particularly when that condition is unknown to the physician or patient and can even be something as simple as oral steroids, youth (even just being under the age of 18), old age, cancer drugs, almost anyone in a hospital for that matter).
The vaccine is also potentially a problem in patients with eczema where it can produce contact vaccinia (where deaths occur) With the prevalence of eczema being estimated at anywhere between 6-22% in the general population I would venture to say that there is a decent amount of risk. At least for me even 6 percent is a pretty large number of people in the population that could possibly have problems with the vaccine.
As the vaccine presents problems in patients with skin disorders an infection can be spread to fresh open wounds by scratching the site of vaccination and then innoculating another break in the skin, I elected not to get it as i have some mild eczema as well as psoriasis.