This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related articles  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Immunization  • Adverse Effects  • Alert me on articles by topic

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

To the Editor: Dr Talbot and colleagues¹ reported that among 148 patients who received smallpox vaccination, 15 developed focal or generalized folliculitis. The authors reported 4 of these cases in detail. Similar cases have been reported in civilian² and military³ populations. None of the cases in the study of Talbot et al represented generalized vaccinia, which is infectious.^4-5

Erythema multiforme was relatively common among children who received routine smallpox vaccination in the 1960s.^4-6 This spectrum of rashes, which has been attributed to either a hypersensitivity to or toxic effect of vaccination, differed from the folliculitis Talbot et al describe and from generalized vaccinia.⁵

Many more individuals would be expected to experience adverse events if the United States were to have a more widespread program of smallpox vaccination. It then would be critical to differentiate among serious events, infectious events, and noninfectious rashes. The study of Talbot et al adds folliculitis . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Vincent A. Fulginiti, MD
Tuscon, Ariz

RELATED ARTICLES

Risks of Smallpox Vaccination—Reply
Thomas R. Talbot and Kathryn M. Edwards
JAMA. 2003;290(11):1452.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Focal and Generalized Folliculitis Following Smallpox Vaccination Among Vaccinia-Naive Recipients
Thomas R. Talbot, H. Keipp Bredenberg, Michael Smith, Bonnie J. LaFleur, Alan Boyd, and Kathryn M. Edwards
JAMA. 2003;289(24):3290-3294.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT