The FDA recently approved a drug that could potentially treat smallpox in humans. There currently exists only 2 stores of smallpox -- one in Russia and the other at the CDC in Atlanta, but after the 9/11 terrorist attack, researchers have worked to create tecovirimat (originally ST-246), an antiviral pill that has already been effective in treating monkeypox and rabbitpox in animals. Currently, tecovirimat is not administered to the public because smallpox was eradicated in 1980; however, this antiviral could be the next step against bioterrorism in the event that people should ever be infected with smallpox. For now, this vaccine is administered to people in the military, labs, and others who may potentially come into contact with the virus should bioterrorism ever occur. Fortunately, when tested in humans, tecovirimat only causes minor side effects such as headache, nausea, and abdominal pain.
I found this article relevant to the journal we read about on mousepox. If you would like to read this article, you can find it here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/health/smallpox-drug-fda-bioterrorism.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FViruses&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection
-Jenny D
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