Breastfed Baby Exposed to Smallpox Vaccine Virus

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By Paul Simao

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier's wife who was accidentally exposed to the live virus in the smallpox vaccine likely passed it on to her baby through breast-feeding, according to military authorities.

The incident, which occurred in May 2003 as the U.S. military was inoculating hundreds of thousands of soldiers against smallpox, is the first documented case of third-hand transmission of vaccinia virus through breast-feeding.

Vaccinia is not smallpox, but a pox-like virus related to the rare and deadly virus. Cases of accidental transmission are rare, usually occurring through direct contact with a vaccinated person's unhealed vaccination site.

In a report released on Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( news - web sites), a team of Army doctors reported that the unidentified mother developed lesions near her nipples about a week after her husband was vaccinated.

Although the husband had a "major reaction" to the jab, the couple had continued to sleep together and the wife had not stopped breast-feeding their baby. About two weeks later, lesions appeared on the infant's face and tongue.

Lab tests confirmed that mother and daughter had been exposed to vaccinia. Neither had been vaccinated for smallpox.

Military officials are not exactly sure how the wife, who had handled laundry possibly contaminated with vaccinia, was infected. They are, however, fairly certain that the baby got the virus through breast-feeding .

The report urged breast-feeding mothers living with people who have been vaccinated against smallpox to be aware of the possibility of exposure to vaccinia and take care not to spread it to their infants.

The Department of Defense ( news - web sites), which has confirmed 18 cases of inadvertent vaccinia transmission since December 2002, has been advising vaccinated persons to cover up their vaccination sites, wash their hands regularly and limit contact with infants.

The United States ended routine vaccinations for smallpox in 1972, but decided in 2002 to resume them for soldiers and some health-care workers as fears grew that the virus could be used as a weapon by radical groups or countries like Iraq ( news - web sites).

Smallpox kills about 30 percent of its victims and scars the remainder for life.

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