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Preparing to Face Smallpox

Sarah Lovinger, MD

JAMA. 2002;288:2530.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Chicago—Like so many other Americans, Inger Damon, MD, PhD, chief of the Poxvirus Section of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, felt life change on September 11, 2001. "A few hours after the terrorist attacks, I walked over to the office of a colleague and told him that the emphasis in our lab would now change from basic science research on smallpox to diagnosis." Damon, who has been working at the CDC since 1999, is helping the agency and the country gear up for a possible bioterrorism attack.

A recent interview with her focused on what community physicians need to know about smallpox—a disease that has not occurred naturally anywhere in the world since 1977 (see p 2533). "I think it's going to be heightened awareness," said Damon. "Understanding what are the clinical presentations of smallpox, what are the common forms, which . . . [Full Text of this Article]