Interlude: The Orthopox That Dare Not Speak Its Name

Alex Berenson reports the impending sudden end to the monkeypox scare, as the news gets out that it's only affecting gay men, after gaining a foothold at a couple of gay raves in Europe:

The good news is that the public health authorities are now likely to pivot fast away from trying to scare people about monkeypox, for fear of stigmatizing gay men (by letting them know too much about what happens at these raves).

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Added bonus: the same epidemiologists who wanted to lock you and your kids up for the last two years for Covid, a disease that poses approximately no risk to them, are now sure to let you know that MANDATES AND GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TO CHANGE BEHAVIOR NEVER WORK!

Accidental Vaccinia

Via ProMED-mail: the CDC reports on a case of vaccinia infection in an immunocompromised woman who handled rabies vaccine bait, in which a genetically modified version of variola's little sister is used. There's much more on the story and the history of vaccinia at ScienceBlogs.

Catpox

Via ProMED-mail: Eurosurveillance surveys recent (human) cowpox cases in Germany, increasingly via cats, and speculates on the cause:

Before the global eradication of smallpox (announced by the World Health Organization in 1979), live vaccinia virus was commonly used as a vaccine against variola virus. Vaccinia virus is closely related to variola virus and other members of the orthopoxviruses and induces cross-immunity [13]. In the course of the eradication of variola virus, vaccinations of children were stopped in Germany in the 1970s due to severe vaccination-related complications. Thus, there is a widening immunisation gap in a population that was previously protected by this vaccine not only against smallpox, but also had an inprecisely defined protection against other forms of orthopoxviruses, e.g. cowpox and monkeypox. Over the last two years, nine patients suspected of suffering from poxvirus infection were examined at the German consultant laboratory for poxviruses. Four of the patients, including the two cases described above, were positive for cowpox virus. [...] This represents an increase in diagnosed human cowpox infections in Germany during the past years. Whilst it cannot be excluded that this is due to a reporting bias, this increase may reflect the fact that a smaller proportion of people have immunity against cowpox virus after the stop of smallpox vaccinations. Interestingly, recent human cowpox cases were observed in people too young to be vaccinated against smallpox.