We should be prepared to smallpox re-emergence

Are We Prepared in Case of a Possible Smallpox-Like Disease Emergence?

Smallpox was the first human disease to be eradicated, through a concerted vaccination campaign led by the World Health Organization. Since its eradication, routine vaccination against smallpox has ceased, leaving the world population susceptible to disease caused by orthopoxviruses. In recent decades, reports of human disease from zoonotic orthopoxviruses have increased. Furthermore, multiple ...

Should we all be vegetarians?

Should Remaining Stockpiles of Smallpox Virus (Variola) Be Destroyed?

In 2011, the World Health Organization will recommend the fate of existing smallpox stockpiles, but circumstances have changed since the complete destruction of these cultures was first proposed. Recent studies suggest that variola and its experimental surrogate, vaccinia, have a remarkable ability to modify the human immune response through complex mechanisms that scientists are only just begi...

Should Terminology Principles be re-examined?

Operationalization of terminology for IT applications has revived the Wüsterian approach. The conceptual dimension once more prevails after taking back seat to specialised lexicography. This is demonstrated by the emergence of ontology in terminology. While the Terminology Principles as defined in Felber’s manual and the ISO standards remain at the core of traditional terminology, their computa...

The Emergence of Human Coronavirus EMC: How Scared Should We Be?

A novel betacoronavirus, human coronavirus (HCoV-EMC), has recently been detected in humans with severe respiratory disease. Further characterization of HCoV-EMC suggests that this virus is different from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) because it is able to replicate in multiple mammalian cell lines and it does not use angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 as a receptor to a...