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Smallpox vaccine infects Indiana boy

Infection Control Monitor, March 23, 2007

A two-year-old Indiana boy is being treated in a Chicago hospital for a rare and life-threatening infection he contracted from his father, a U.S. Army soldier who was vaccinated against smallpox, reported the Chicago Tribune.

The boy was in critical condition last weekend with eczema vaccinatum. He does not have smallpox, but is ill from the related vaccinia virus which is used to convey immunity to the much deadlier disease. His mother has a much milder case of the virus.

Since the virus can be spread though close physical contact, staff members at the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital who are treating the boy and his mother are required to wear face masks and gloves, according to published reports. The boy and mother are also in a special room with negative air pressure, so all air circulates inward.

The boy developed a rash over 80% of his body this month after coming in contact with his father, who had recently been vaccinated for smallpox before he was to be deployed overseas by the Army, the Tribune reported.

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