Updated:05/30/2022 12:58h
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The monkey pox has spread around the world unpredictably in recent weeks. Spain, one of the countries in which the disease has been detected, is so far the most affected by possible positive cases and it seems that, with the passing of days, infections do not stop increasing.
Although so far there are not many clues of this disease, the truth is that its symptoms are very similar to those generated by a disease as deadly as the smallpox. Much milder, of course, but also transmissible through close and prolonged contact.
[Cómo se contagia la viruela del mono en los humanos y cuáles son sus síntomas]
According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, the smallpox vaccine could be the perfect prevention weapon for this disease.
In fact, these vaccines have a 85% efficiency when it comes to preventing the spread of the virus and the European Union has just agreed to purchase these vaccines to fight against the spread of the monkeypox.
This vaccine began to be administered regularly in our country to those citizens born after 1921 and it continued to be inoculated until 1980, the year in which this disease was considered eradicated. The scar on the upper arm was, for a long time, an indication that someone had been vaccinated against smallpox.
But why did the smallpox vaccine leave this characteristic scar when inoculated? This is why many people over the age of 40 who have been vaccinated have this mark on their arm.
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Why does the smallpox vaccine leave a scar?
The characteristic scar of the smallpox vaccine comes, nothing more and nothing less, from the unique needle that was used to introduce the dose: the bifurcated needle.
Although currently vaccines are usually inoculated with a hypodermic needle, in the 1970s it was common to use this bifurcated needle that It had two points at the end.. Invented by Dr. Benjamin Rubin in 1965, it was used for more than a decade to eradicate smallpox in conjunction with the ring vaccination technique.
The method of use was also very characteristic: this needle was immersed in the solution of the vaccine, thus leaving a drop of the substance between both ends. Then, he pricked his skin about 15 times in a few seconds.
This unique injection generated a small blood lump which, when healed, left a mark on the skin of the vaccinated person. It can be differentiated from other brands of vaccines, such as tuberculosis, by its volcanic and sunken form.
[¿Hasta qué año se puso la vacuna de la viruela y cómo saber si estoy vacunado?]
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