Guarding Against the Smallpox Virus

Re “Victors Fear Old Foe: Pox,” Nov. 6: Your horror story about the potential of a smallpox event in the U.S. added little in the way of new information but succeeded in fanning the fears of an already worried readership. We already know we are not immunized. We already know there are not enough doses of vaccine. The graphic descriptions and photo of an “unidentified” and “undated” smallpox patient covered with lesions were alarming and unnecessarily gruesome. This is insensitive and sensationalistic reporting that exploits public anxiety.

William Goldman

Palos Verdes Estates

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Your article about the potential threat of smallpox adds a new urgency to the debate about what should be done with the existing supply of smallpox virus held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The only reason for its existence is that many scientists believe that by studying this deadly virus we may someday learn something.

The idea that it may someday prove to be useful is speculation; the potential for mass suffering and death is indisputable fact. We should destroy all known caches of smallpox virus immediately.

Gordon Rudd

Laguna Beach