Bird flu

[Maria]

Really? I have a dime sized pox scar from the first vaccination and tried to convince the Army doctors that since I had the scar, I certainly didn't need a second shot. The only thing that got me was the second shot going into the first scar, so I only have one. The second shot caused a big blister under the first scar, so I probably would have scarred the second time, too, if it had been in a different place.

A few years ago, my parents enrolled in a smallpox vaccination trial, just so they could get updated on the vaccine. They got pretty sick from the vaccination, if I recall correctly. It's hard to remember, though. They've been volunteering for medical experiments for years now. It freaks me out every time they mention an adverse reaction. Let me rephrase that- It scares me every time they mention any test they are involved in!

[anthriel]

Because immunity to the smallpox vaccine decreases over time,

Ahem. Shouldn't this read "Because immunity to smallpox due to the vaccine decreases over time"?

I sure would hate to have immunity to the vaccine.

[River]

I had a coworker participate in a smallpox vaccine trial. It knocked her on her bum for a couple days too. Apparently, that's a known and common reaction. And it's not just the smallpox vaccine that can do that - the last time I got a flu shot, I felt like I'd been hit by a train a few hours later.

I've sometimes wondered about a scenario where someone packages one virus in another virus's coat, ie, the polio genome in a flu virus shell. It doesn't seem like it should be that hard but there might be some subtlety I am missing. Maybe when I get back to Boulder and behind a university IP I'll do a literature search and see if it's been tried.

[vison]

I'm in the part of the population that is supposed to get a flu shot. I haven't had it yet, but I will next week if I can get into the doctor's office.

I have a smallpox vaccine scar on my upper left arm. My Mum doesn't - she wasn't vaccinated as a kid.