Results of a new study in monkeys offer scientists a rare glimpse of how, on a molecular level, the smallpox virus attacks its victims. The findings shed light on how the virus caused mass death and suffering, and will help point the way to new diagnostics, vaccines and drugs that would be needed in the event of a smallpox bioterror incident.
The study, led by David Relman, M.D., of Stanford University, is now online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The research was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
"In light of today's concerns about bioterror attacks, we have an urgent need to know as much as possible about the workings of the smallpox virus and other bioterror agents," says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of NIAID. "This new research fills in some of the gaps in our understanding of smallpox. Now we are better positioned to speed the development of protective measures."
Related research, also published online in PNAS this week, set the stage for Dr. Relman's smallpox study. In this work, researchers at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Stanford University, show that cynomolgus macaque monkeys exposed to smallpox virus can develop a disease similar to human smallpox. Previously, scientists thought it impossible for the smallpox virus to sicken any species other than humans.