Olson Victoria A, Shchelkunov Sergei N
Poxvirus and Rabies Branch, Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA.
Department of Genomic Research and Development of DNA Diagnostics of Poxviruses, State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR, Koltsovo, 630559 Novosibirsk Region, Russia.
Viruses. 2017 Aug 27;9(9):242. doi: 10.3390/v9090242.
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 reports of newly identified poxviruses capable of causing human disease have occurred. These facts raise concerns regarding both the opportunity for these zoonotic orthopoxviruses to evolve and become a more severe public health issue, as well as the risk of (the causative agent of smallpox) to be utilized as a bioterrorist weapon. The eradication of smallpox occurred prior to the development of the majority of modern virological and molecular biological techniques. Therefore, there is a considerable amount that is not understood regarding how this solely human pathogen interacts with its host. This paper briefly recounts the history and current status of diagnostic tools, vaccines, and anti-viral therapeutics for treatment of smallpox disease. The authors discuss the importance of further research to prepare the global community should a smallpox-like virus emerge.
天花是第一种通过世界卫生组织领导的协同疫苗接种运动而被根除的人类疾病。自其被根除以来，天花的常规疫苗接种已经停止，这使得世界人口易受正痘病毒引起的疾病影响。近几十年来，人畜共患正痘病毒导致人类疾病的报告有所增加。此外，还出现了多起新发现的能够引起人类疾病的痘病毒的报告。这些事实引发了人们对于这些人畜共患正痘病毒进化并成为更严重的公共卫生问题的可能性，以及天花病毒（天花的病原体）被用作生物恐怖主义武器的风险的担忧。天花的根除发生在大多数现代病毒学和分子生物学技术发展之前。因此，关于这种仅感染人类的病原体如何与宿主相互作用，仍有相当多的未知之处。本文简要叙述了用于治疗天花疾病的诊断工具、疫苗和抗病毒疗法的历史与现状。作者讨论了进一步开展研究对于全球社会应对类似天花病毒出现的重要性。
