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posted by martyb on Friday August 26 2016, @01:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the Out,-damned-spot! dept.

Donald "D.A." Henderson, a physician, educator, and epidemiologist who led the World Health Organization's campaign to eradicate smallpox, died at 87 years of age on Aug. 19, 2016.

Smallpox was responsible for an estimated 300–500 million deaths during the 20th century. As recently as 1967, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 15 million people contracted the disease and that two million died in that year.

After vaccination campaigns throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the WHO certified the global eradication of smallpox in 1979. Smallpox is one of two infectious diseases to have been eradicated, the other being rinderpest, which was declared eradicated in 2011.

Key to the eradication effort, given an insufficient supply of vaccine to inoculate everyone, was "surveillance-containment":

This technique entailed rapid reporting of cases from all health units and prompt vaccination of household members and close contacts of confirmed cases.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Henderson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox

2014 Interview: http://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-special-henderson/ or use YouTube.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by jdavidb on Friday August 26 2016, @01:26PM

    by jdavidb (5690) on Friday August 26 2016, @01:26PM (#393460) Homepage Journal

    Wow, just wow. I had no idea this person was still alive, nor did I even know his name, and that is a terrible shame. If ever there were a person to whom we all owe a debt, this is him! Rest in well-deserved peace, sir, and may your name and your contribution to civilization be remembered.

    Today sounds like a good day to teach my children about vaccines. And maybe for a family game of Pandemic [boardgamegeek.com].

    --
    ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Friday August 26 2016, @04:47PM

      by Beryllium Sphere (r) (5062) on Friday August 26 2016, @04:47PM (#393559)

      >may your name and your contribution to civilization be remembered

      He deserves to be remembered more than damn near any political leader or entertainer.

  • (Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Friday August 26 2016, @02:18PM

    by nitehawk214 (1304) on Friday August 26 2016, @02:18PM (#393485)

    Sometimes you just can't vaccinate everyone. But this is why "herd immunity" is a thing. If you trap the virus into areas and vaccinate the people in those areas, and monitor when it gets out, you can stop the disease.

    Dr. Henderson and those working for this have saved countless lives. I think why people underestimate this is because of the mentality of, "I and nobody I have ever known had gotten Smallpox, therefore this isn't a big deal." Well without this effort, you would have known someone.

    --
    "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Friday August 26 2016, @03:08PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 26 2016, @03:08PM (#393519) Journal

      It's not only about saving lives. It's also about saving some people from a life of crippling disease. Or being in a wheelchair for the rest of their life. Or maybe being in a hyperbaric breathing chamber for the rest of their lives.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @05:29PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @05:29PM (#393589)

        Prior to vaccination, Smallpox caused 1/3 of European cases of blindness (from the wiki link).

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Friday August 26 2016, @05:27PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Friday August 26 2016, @05:27PM (#393584)

      > Dr. Henderson and those working for this have saved countless lives.

      Apparently, about 2 000 000 per year.
      Let's repeat that: Their work saved about 2 million lives per year .
      Holy bleeping bleep.

      If that's not a record, I'd like to know which other group also deserves a platinum statue, their names on every school, and a nice pat on the back.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Kilo110 on Friday August 26 2016, @02:52PM

    by Kilo110 (2853) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 26 2016, @02:52PM (#393507)

    But that goal is out of reach for the foreseeable future due to the middle east as they don't trust the vaccinations.

    Well I hope they like Polio instead.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Friday August 26 2016, @03:04PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 26 2016, @03:04PM (#393516) Journal

      I can't really blame them for not trusting vaccinations. Unlike American anti-vaxers where the problem is simply stupidity; the middle east is aware of CIA program(s) where vaccinations are actually for some other sinister purpose. Good job CIA! Undermine trust in vaccination for an entire region of the world. In one particular case a fake vaccination program was actually to collect DNA samples to track down Osama Bin Laden.

      I have no love for Osama. But I instantly have deep distrust when I hear "the ends justify the means".

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @03:38PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @03:38PM (#393528)

        But I instantly have deep distrust when I hear "the ends justify the means".

        It's fine, and indeed good to distrust it. Just don't complete dismiss it. That's good in theory, but in reality things aren't always so clean.

        For example, the UK during WW2, they had cracked German military codes. As such they knew that the Germans were going to bomb a city. You are left with the choice of evacuating the city or not. If you evacuate the city or otherwise increase aerial defenses, you risk letting the Germans know their codes are cracked, which would gravely undermine the war effort and possibly lead to a German victory. If you do not evacuate the city, hundreds of civilians will die. What do you do?

        Regardless of your choice, I'm sure you can at least accept that a legitimate argument could be made that the ends of defeating the Third Reich justifies the means of sacrificing a few hundred civilians.

        Of course the same argument can be made to justify anything bad ("we need to commit genocide against the Jewish people, for the greater good of the Third Reich") so being suspicious is good... but that it is frequently misused doesn't mean that the argument is fundamentally bad.

        • (Score: 2) by jdavidb on Friday August 26 2016, @03:56PM

          by jdavidb (5690) on Friday August 26 2016, @03:56PM (#393533) Homepage Journal

          For example, the UK during WW2, they had cracked German military codes. As such they knew that the Germans were going to bomb a city. You are left with the choice of evacuating the city or not. If you evacuate the city or otherwise increase aerial defenses, you risk letting the Germans know their codes are cracked, which would gravely undermine the war effort and possibly lead to a German victory. If you do not evacuate the city, hundreds of civilians will die. What do you do?

          Move to America.

          --
          ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
        • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday August 26 2016, @04:17PM

          by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 26 2016, @04:17PM (#393546) Journal

          Yes, I know there are difficult choices sometimes.

          I don't think inflicting diseases on a whole region of the world, because they now distrust vaccines, for valid reasons to distrust, was worth it just to catch Osama Bin Laden.

          --
          People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Spook brat on Friday August 26 2016, @04:48PM

          by Spook brat (775) on Friday August 26 2016, @04:48PM (#393560) Journal

          There are some intelligence agencies with rules about this kind of thing, kinda like having an institutional conscience. Rules like:
          * never impersonate a doctor/medical specialist
          * never impersonate clergy

          The reason for these rules is that getting caught doing so has easily foreseeable, immediate, long-term negative consequences for the entire global community.

          I dare say that the polio virus and the injuries/paralysis/deaths associated with it are a greater threat to regional stability than any one man. Worse, it's not only the polio virus eradication being harmed: that CIA op harmed the effectiveness of all medical treatment in the region.

          The arrogance with which the CIA attempted this, under the premise of, "well, we just won't get caught, so no problem" is staggering in its naivete. I have to wonder whether their Old Guard of cold-war operatives have all retired, or if this is how they ran their business back then, too...

          Some means cannot be justified, as they have their own ends that will take you places you never want to go. Impersonating doctors in a vaccination campaign is one of them.

          --
          Travel the galaxy! Meet fascinating life forms... And kill them [schlockmercenary.com]
          • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @07:24PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @07:24PM (#393643)

            There are some intelligence agencies with rules about this kind of thing

            But if you told us which ones, they'd have to kill you?

            • (Score: 2) by Spook brat on Friday August 26 2016, @10:01PM

              by Spook brat (775) on Friday August 26 2016, @10:01PM (#393703) Journal

              There are some intelligence agencies with rules about this kind of thing

              But if you told us which ones, they'd have to kill you?

              Touché!

              I can vouch for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and its subsidiaries in the various branches of the U.S. Military, that's all. YMMV with other U.S. agencies, all bets are off when you jump to other nations. There are a few I'd suspect of similar shenanigans, but I'll be polite and keep idle rumors to myself.

              --
              Travel the galaxy! Meet fascinating life forms... And kill them [schlockmercenary.com]
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @11:49PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @11:49PM (#393755)

                Thank you for the answer and for being a good sport.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27 2016, @07:07AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27 2016, @07:07AM (#393873)

            * never impersonate clergy

            lol

      • (Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Friday August 26 2016, @04:37PM

        by Thexalon (636) on Friday August 26 2016, @04:37PM (#393554)

        Unlike American anti-vaxers where the problem is simply stupidity; the middle east is aware of CIA program(s) where vaccinations are actually for some other sinister purpose.

        Yup, and that's completely illegal under international treaties, too, for precisely the reasons you mentioned. Not that illegality has ever stopped the Central Idiocy Agency.

        --
        The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
      • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday August 26 2016, @09:24PM

        by butthurt (6141) on Friday August 26 2016, @09:24PM (#393692) Journal

        Some Americans, I'm sure, are also aware of the CIA program(s). Some may even be aware of the Tuskegee experiment [wikipedia.org], the Guatemala syphilis experiment [wikipedia.org] or even other programmes [wikipedia.org] in which people were given injections of dioxin, plutonium, etc.:

        From the 1950s to 1972, mentally disabled children at the Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, New York were intentionally infected with viral hepatitis, for research whose purpose was to help discover a vaccine. From 1963 to 1966, Saul Krugman of New York University promised the parents of mentally disabled children that their children would be enrolled into Willowbrook in exchange for signing a consent form for procedures that he claimed were "vaccinations." In reality, the procedures involved deliberately infecting children with viral hepatitis by feeding them an extract made from the feces of patients infected with the disease.

        Some anti-vaxxers keep going on about the contamination [nih.gov] of polio vaccines with SV40 [wikipedia.org] (short for "simian virus 40"), an honest mistake that was corrected all the way back in 1978!

        • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday August 29 2016, @01:55PM

          by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 29 2016, @01:55PM (#394670) Journal

          Anti-vaxxers are not looking for a rational reason. They are looking for a rationalization. An excuse. Any excuse will do. A decades old mistake is good enough. If not that, then something fictional, made up, will do just as well.

          --
          People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
          • (Score: 1) by butthurt on Monday August 29 2016, @03:06PM

            by butthurt (6141) on Monday August 29 2016, @03:06PM (#394742) Journal

            Of course. That's why I made those things up.

  • (Score: 2) by looorg on Friday August 26 2016, @04:26PM

    by looorg (578) on Friday August 26 2016, @04:26PM (#393552)

    Unless he died from smallpox, and this is irony, I don't see the news value in that people die of old age since mortality is 1.

    • (Score: 1) by OrugTor on Friday August 26 2016, @04:52PM

      by OrugTor (5147) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 26 2016, @04:52PM (#393562)

      It's an opportunity to remind ourseves that great good can come from great people applying great science. In a culture where the OD death of a performer makes the front page I need to keep believing that we are better than that. Thank you Soylent News for reminding me that we are..

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @05:38PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @05:38PM (#393594)

      Nobody has died from smallpox since 1978 - largely due to the efforts of this man.

      Since you didn't seem to realise from the summary, the news value is derived from his value to the world and not his actual death. If you'd rather see, "Man Dies from a Crazy Accident You Wouldn't Believe" on the front page, then find those stories and submit them.

  • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday August 26 2016, @09:30PM

    by butthurt (6141) on Friday August 26 2016, @09:30PM (#393694) Journal

    As far as I could see from just looking at the Wikipedia article and the abstract [nih.gov] of one scholarly article, rinderpest is (was) a disease of cattle only. It didn't infect humans.