Child Recovering From Vaccine Infection Contracted from Soldier Dad

Child Recovering From Vaccine Infection

http://www.cfnews13.com/Health/HealthHeadlines/2007/4/9/child_recovering_from_vaccine_infection.html

From Associated Press
April 08, 2007 2:33 AM EDT

CHICAGO -

A 2-year-old Indiana boy who contracted a rare and life-threatening infection from
his soldier father's smallpox vaccination is recovering, a hospital spokesman said.

Doctors have relied on some untested measures to save the boy's life, including skin grafts
and an experimental drug that has never been used to treat a human patient, officials said.
The boy's pox lesions left him with the equivalent of second-degree burns, requiring grafts
to let the underlying skin heal.

"Everyone has been a little bit astonished that he has recovered as well as he has," hospital spokesman
John Easton said Saturday. The boy should be should be upgraded to serious from critical condition soon, he added.

The boy has been in pediatric intensive care at the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital for the
past month with a virulent rash over 80 percent of his body. He developed the rash 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 boy is not suffering from smallpox, but from the related virus which is used to convey immunity to the
much deadlier disease.

Health officials say there is no infection risk for the general population because the virus can be spread
only through close physical contact.

The child suffered from eczema, which is a known risk factor for such an infection, doctors said.

The military resumed smallpox vaccinations in 2002 because of bioterrorism fears.

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How did the child get it from the Dad?
Just from touching him after a vaccination? :wow:

I'm glad the child is getting better...that's got to be painful!

that they need to keep the blister covered AT ALL TIMES to keep it from this kind of problem! This is a live virus vaccine and when the blister developes it can be passed by direct contact WITH THE BLISTER. This vaccine has been around for years and all who are given it sign a waver acknowledging that they understand the risks associated with it (and are given plenty of literature on it as well), which is why I believe that unless there is a legitimate threat to the population it should NOT be required for all. I suspect the father was not careful in keeping it covered. You can't transmit if you follow the instructions exactly as they tell you.
And fortunately its not smallpox he has, one of the world's worst scourges that this vaccine has all but wiped out.

and I had to be vaccinated five times!!
I was already immune, according to the doctor.
But they kicked me out of kindergarten anyway! :crazy:
I just didn't remember mine oozing but I guess people are different.
I'm sure the dad didn't intend for the boy to be infected.
I'll bet it was an accident.

I had a small pox vaccine back in 2000 for my job and I didn't blister at all either. Some people just seem to be immune. 5 times they tried with you? They should have just checked your lymph nodes to see if they were swollen! Thats how I avoided a second immunization. But yes, considering how much a pain in the ass covering and recovering the blister can be (they made me change it every day and that resulted in irritated skin) I am sure it was just an accident on the dad's part. But I wanted to make sure people understood that this kind of thing can be avoided with the proper precautions...:)

I think this was posted when it originally happened and the dad's deployment was delayed so they let him return home for a bit after being vaccinated (bad idea with eczema). Once when I got vaccinated for work I was given a little plastic box to use to discard the band aids so they didn't get touched by someone else (live alone, but they do it anyway). So the dad could have discarded a band aid and the kid picked it out of the trash, especially if he wasn't properly warned about such procedures or didn't read written instructions.