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US authorities approved the first smallpox treatment on Friday in the event that the virus is used in a terrorist attack.
Smallpox, highly contagious, was eradicated from the world in 1980 thanks to a colossal campaign However, people born later were not vaccinated and small samples were kept for research purposes, which opens the possibility that the virus is 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% They survived, said the company. Its safety has been proven in several hundred healthy volunteers, who were not infected with smallpox.
Smallpox killed some 300 million people worldwide during the 20th 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 it must be given five days after exposure to the virus well before the symptoms appear.
"This new treatment gives us an additional option if smallpox is used as a weapon 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 simian 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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