Drugs approved if terrorists use smallpox as a biological weapon



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US authorities approved the first smallpox treatment on Friday when the virus is used in a terrorist attack.

Smallpox, very contagious, was eradicated from the world in 1980

However, people born later did not get vaccinated, and small samples were kept for research purposes , which opens the possibility that the virus will be used as a biological weapon .

SIGA Technologies of New York has already provided two million treatments to the government for storage, which funded part of the development of the drug, called TROXX.

To test the effectiveness of the drug, monkeys and rabbits were infected with a similar virus, they received the drug and 90% survived, the company said. Its safety has been proven in several hundred healthy volunteers, uninfected by smallpox.

Smallpox: Lethal Weapon

Smallpox killed some 300 million people worldwide during the twentieth century before being eradicated. Symptoms include fever, fatigue, and festering ulcers. Until now, doctors could only provide palliative care such as intravenous solutions and fever remedies, and isolate patients. Vaccination can be used to prevent infection, but should be given five days after exposure to the virus well before the symptoms appear.

"This new treatment allows us an additional option if smallpox is Dr. Scott Gottlieb, director of the US Food and Drug Administration, said in a statement

that SIGA is developing vaccines and drugs for biological, chemical, radiological and nuclear attacks.The chief executive, Phil Gomez, said that the company is developing an intravenous version and is considering selling the drug to other countries and treating drugs. 39 Other infectious diseases, such as monkey pox, that African monkeys can transmit to humans Monkeypox can spread among people and has a mortality rate of about 15%.

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