With the recent warnings of the World Health Organization (WHO) about Monkeypox, global health concerns have flared up again. Prof. Dr. Levent Doğancı, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, stated that the real danger is much bigger than Monkeypox. Prof. Dr. Levent Doğancı stated that beyond Monkeypox, biological threats such as smallpox could have much more serious consequences for Turkey and the world, and said, “Especially smallpox viruses that are strategically stored and the steps taken by the United States on this issue further increase global biological security concerns.”
The recent warnings made by the World Health Organization (WHO) about monkeypox and the increased risk of a global epidemic had a deep repercussion in the scientific world. Prof. Dr. Levent Doğancı, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Altınbaş University Faculty of Medicine, said, “Not only Monkeypox, but also smallpox, which is a strategically greater danger, should be on our agenda,” based on the developments regarding Monkeypox.
“It is stored in 3 places, raising concerns that the virus could be used as a potential biological weapon”
Emphasizing the importance of biological threats in the face of increasing social turmoil, terrorism and wars around the world, Prof. Dr. Levent Doğancı said that the smallpox virus, which seemed to have been eradicated from the world in 1978, was actually hiding in WHO's stockpiles in Geneva, in a laboratory in Moscow and in certain locations such as the Walter Reed Military Research Laboratory in the USA. Underlining that this raises concerns that the virus could be used as a potential biological weapon, Prof. Dr. Doğancı discussed the developments from a different perspective. While acknowledging that Monkeypox poses a danger especially for immunocompromised individuals, Prof. Doğancı emphasized that smallpox poses a greater risk and continued his words as follows:
“The production of the most reliable smallpox vaccine in the US, known as the MVA-Nordic strain, is presented as a hedge against this risk. But the fact that this vaccine is produced only in the US by a single company and is being widely administered to the American population is a global concern. The world is now a very small geography. The fact that a certain population in one country has the potential to become immune to a dangerous disease like smallpox en masse, while other countries have large populations of young and middle-aged people who are not immune, is a worrying situation. The US is sending a message to its people and the world through the WHO and its own federal health organizations: 'you can go and get vaccinated' and 'the MVA vaccine is a very safe vaccine'. They say in good faith that their goal is monkeypox, which is usually a risk for immunocompromised HIV or transplant recipients; they want to immunize their own young population for human pox, which has been eradicated. But Walter Reed's USARIID lab has a very serious smallpox lab where wild virus production can be easily done. It is a laboratory that can be accessed by cosmic clearance. I think we should consider this perspective and bring, produce and store our Ankara strain before the crisis starts.”
“Strategic preparation is essential for Turkey, 100 percent of the population born after 1980 is at risk of smallpox”
Prof. Dr. Doğancı from Altınbaş University stated that Turkey should also be prepared against these biological threats and said, “Once we have the MVA strain, we have the potential to produce a vaccine that will be enough for our entire population in two to three months. Turkey needs to stockpile this vaccine and start production quickly. Especially 100 percent of the population born after 1980 is at risk of smallpox. We can never predict who is planning what. Smallpox is a very effective biological weapon and the US Congress has not signed the UN biological weapons convention for 20 years. I believe that we should consider this perspective and bring, produce and store our Ankara strain before the crisis starts.”
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