Talk:Vaccinia

A Likely Cause of AIDS
Removed the following text section entirely. This is an outdated, discredited claim that has no current validity. The London Times article is 20 years old but has become the poster child of various conspiracy theories in the blogosphere. I will be willing to include if anyone can come up with any reliable source. ''The Aids epidemic may have been triggered by the mass vaccination campaign which eradicated smallpox. It appears that Vaccinia may have awakened the dormant human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). While doctors now accept that Vaccinia can activate other viruses, they are divided about whether it was the main catalyst to the AIDS epidemic.''

[Copyvio so removed most of this as well as the source holding the copyvio]

G716 14:52, 24 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I second the removal. While the idea may be encyclopedic in the limited historical sense (i.e. "at one point a minority had the opinion - now known to be false - that ....", it is certainly not part of current scientific consensus: adding a link amounts to "undue weight". -- MarcoTolo 21:12, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 16:32, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Added Citation Check Template
I have added a citation check to the article. Specifically, citation 3 does not appear to speak toward the article text that cites it. The article and citation reads:"The precise origin of Vaccinia virus is unknown, however, due to the lack of record-keeping as the virus was repeatedly cultivated and passaged in research laboratories for many decades." The text does illustrate some of the early methods of reproducing the virus, however since it doesn't make any differentiation between cowpox and vaccinia, it cannot support the assertion that the origins of vaccinia are unknown. Indeed, one would get the impression from the text that cowpox and vaccinia are one and the same.

From the text:"In 1796, Edward Jenner (Fig. 6-1) demonstrated that material could be taken from a human pustular lesion caused by cowpox virus ... and inoculated into the skin of another person, producing a similar infection. ... He called the material vaccine, from the Latin vacca, meaning cow, and the process vaccination. ... Growth of the virus on the flank of a calf offered the prospect for provision of an adequate and safer supply of vaccine material. ... With an ensured source of vaccinia, the numbers of vaccinations in Europe increased, and the incidence of smallpox in the more industrialized countries diminished more rapidly. [Emphasis added]"

I would suggest someone more familiar with the material than I check this, and the rest of the references to ensure they support the article. --Kurt (talk) 22:27, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

Symptoms?
“A Vaccinia virus infection is very mild and is typically asymptomatic in healthy individuals...” (section 6, “Use as a vaccine”). The image depicted on the side does not support this; clearly the person has a real pockmark due to vaccinia. Also, says that smallpox vaccine (essentially, vaccinia) has symptoms:


 * The vaccination often causes a residual, lifelong scar. Since vaccination of the general population was stopped in the U.S. in 1971, people in their 40s or older may still see this scar on their arm. [subsection, “How is the smallpox vaccine administered?”]

and
 * The smallpox vaccine initially causes a red, raised bump at the site of inoculation that progresses to a blister and eventually a scab. The scab then separates from the skin about two weeks after inoculation.


 * Mild side effects from the vaccine include fever and swelling of the lymph node in the armpit near the site of inoculation. About 70 of 100 people given the vaccine will have fever greater than 100° Fahrenheit. [subsection, “Does the smallpox vaccine have side effects?”]

I read a large part of Paul Offit's book,, which is essentially a debunking of the anti-vaccine movement, so Offit is unlikely to claim that vaccines are less safe than they really are, so his statement that smallpox vaccine is not benign (that is, generally makes you at least somewhat ill) has a degree of credibility.--Solomonfromfinland (talk) 09:37, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

A summary of its genes would be helpful
Only 2 of the approx 250 genes are identified. How many of the genes are used for various functions ? - Rod57 (talk) 11:06, 14 October 2016 (UTC)
 * says "VACV have a complete replicating cycle inside the cytoplasm of the host cell, even though it is a DNA virus (Figure 1) [10]. This fact determines the genetic characteristics of the virus, being completely independent of the replication and transcription machinery of the host cell. Once the virion infects the host cell, the viral core is uncoated, and nearly 100 early viral genes are transcribed [15,16]. Early genes produce the required enzymes for catalyzing the viral core breakdown, viral DNA replication and the modulation of the host antiviral response [17]. Viral DNA begins to replicate inside the infected host cell using viral enzymes at 3 h post-infection. As soon as the viral replication starts, transcription of downstream genes encoding for regulatory proteins that induce the expression of the late genes occurs. Late genes encode for proteins and enzymes required for the assembly of new viral particles. After DNA and all viral proteins are synthesized, the process known as morphogenesis begins, which results in the formation of the new virions [18,19]. These can be retained inside the cell until cellular lysis or released to the environment by other mechanism [10,18]." - Rod57 (talk) 11:47, 14 October 2016 (UTC)

Summary in poxviridae has extra info
The summary in poxviridae says "The vaccinia virus is an effective tool for foreign protein expression, as it elicits a strong host immune-response. The vaccinia virus enters cells primarily by cell fusion, although currently the receptor responsible is unknown. Vaccinia contains three classes of genes: early, intermediate and late." I came here for sources for those 5 claims but they don't seem to be mentioned here at all. - Rod57 (talk) 11:18, 14 October 2016 (UTC)


 * This info is (oddly) buried at Modified vaccinia Ankara - Wikipedia. RudolfoMD (talk) 19:43, 5 August 2023 (UTC)

Confusing language
"The vaccinia virus is the source of the modern smallpox vaccine" is imprecise, as there is no "the modern smallpox vaccine." There are several, some more modern than others. Needs specificity. Is it true for all? I think so. RudolfoMD (talk) 19:42, 5 August 2023 (UTC)