Smallpox Still Haunts Scientists: Results of a Questionnaire-Based Inquiry on the Views of Health Care and Life Science Experts and Students on Preserving the Remaining Variola Virus Stocks
Joint Authors
Senthilkumar, Rajappa
Rajendran, Paramasivam
Balamurugan, Madasamy
Kurosawa, Gene
Iwasaki, Masaru
Srinivasan, Thangavelu
Dedeepiya, Vidyasagar Devaprasad
Reena, Helen C.
Abraham, Samuel J. K.
John, Sudhakar
Preethy, Senthilkumar
Source
Issue
Vol. 2013, Issue 2013 (31 Dec. 2013), pp.1-6, 6 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2013-07-22
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
6
Main Subjects
Medicine
Information Technology and Computer Science
Abstract EN
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared eradication of the dreadful disease “smallpox” in 1980.
Though the disease has died down, the causative virus “variola” has not, as it has been well preserved in two high security laboratories—one in USA and another in Russia.
The debate on whether the remaining stocks of the smallpox virus should be destroyed or not is ongoing, and the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 2011 has decided to postpone the review on this debate to the 67th WHA in 2014.
A short questionnaire-based inquiry was organized during a one-day stem cell meeting to explore the views of various health care and life science specialists especially students on this aspect.
Among the 200 participants of the meeting, only 66 had answered the questionnaire.
60.6% of participants who responded to the questionnaire were for preserving the virus for future reference, while 36.4% of the participants were for destroying the virus considering the magnitude with which it killed millions.
However, 3% of the respondents were not able to decide on any verdict.
Therefore, this inquiry expresses the view that “what we cannot create, we do not have the right to destroy.”
American Psychological Association (APA)
Srinivasan, Thangavelu& Dedeepiya, Vidyasagar Devaprasad& John, Sudhakar& Senthilkumar, Rajappa& Reena, Helen C.& Rajendran, Paramasivam…[et al.]. 2013. Smallpox Still Haunts Scientists: Results of a Questionnaire-Based Inquiry on the Views of Health Care and Life Science Experts and Students on Preserving the Remaining Variola Virus Stocks. The Scientific World Journal،Vol. 2013, no. 2013, pp.1-6.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1033179
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Srinivasan, Thangavelu…[et al.]. Smallpox Still Haunts Scientists: Results of a Questionnaire-Based Inquiry on the Views of Health Care and Life Science Experts and Students on Preserving the Remaining Variola Virus Stocks. The Scientific World Journal No. 2013 (2013), pp.1-6.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1033179
American Medical Association (AMA)
Srinivasan, Thangavelu& Dedeepiya, Vidyasagar Devaprasad& John, Sudhakar& Senthilkumar, Rajappa& Reena, Helen C.& Rajendran, Paramasivam…[et al.]. Smallpox Still Haunts Scientists: Results of a Questionnaire-Based Inquiry on the Views of Health Care and Life Science Experts and Students on Preserving the Remaining Variola Virus Stocks. The Scientific World Journal. 2013. Vol. 2013, no. 2013, pp.1-6.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1033179
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-1033179