Report recommends strengthening U.S. readiness for smallpox

The U.S. should develop better diagnostics, vaccines and treatments to enhance its readiness for an outbreak involving smallpox or related diseases, according to a report released this week from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. The authors say U.S. population changes and advancements in gene editing and synthesis technologies have increased the potential for a smallpox outbreak or attack. It is possible to engineer the variola virus ─ the virus causing smallpox ─ increasing the potential of accidental or intentional release. In addition, illnesses related to smallpox are increasingly present in people, making countermeasures to detect, treat and prevent these diseases necessary. (NASEM news release, 3/26/24)