Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia.
Vaccine. 2011 Dec 30;29 Suppl 4:D49-53. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2011.05.037. Epub 2011 Dec 18.
The review summarizes the archive data on smallpox, history of ancient civilizations, and the most recent data on the genome organization of orthopoxviruses, their evolutionary relationships, and the time points of smallpox emergence. The performed analysis provides the grounds for the hypothesis that smallpox could have emerged several times as a result of evolutionary changes in the zoonotic ancestor virus and disappeared due to insufficient population size of ancient civilizations. Smallpox reemerged in the Indian subcontinent approximately 2500-3000 years before present, which resulted in endemization of this anthroponotic infection, which had been preserved until the smallpox eradication in the 20th century AD. The conclusion suggests a potential possibility of future variola virus reemergence, presenting a great menace for mankind, as well as the need for development of new safe smallpox vaccines, design of anti-smallpox drugs, and activation of the control of zoonotic human orthopoxvirus infections.
该综述总结了天花的档案数据、古代文明的历史，以及最近关于正痘病毒基因组结构、进化关系和天花出现时间的资料。所进行的分析为以下假说提供了依据，即天花可能由于人畜共患祖先病毒的进化变化而多次出现，并由于古代文明的人口规模不足而消失。天花大约在距今 2500-3000 年前在印度次大陆重新出现，导致这种人间传播的感染地方性流行，这种感染一直持续到 20 世纪天花被消灭。这一结论表明，天花病毒未来可能会再次出现，这对人类构成了巨大威胁，因此需要开发新的安全天花疫苗、设计抗天花药物，并激活对人间正痘病毒感染的人畜共患控制。
