Man Suffers Brain Illness After Smallpox Vaccination, CDC Says

Atlanta, May 22 (Bloomberg) -- A 38-year-old man developed brain inflammation and a seizure after getting a shot against smallpox, the first such complication seen in the government anti- bioterrorism program that began in January, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The man suffered a seizure on May 3, more than three weeks after the vaccination, according to a report from the CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases. Ten days after his inoculation, the man had trouble breathing and later became confused, agitated and moody, the report said.

More than 36,000 civilian health and emergency workers and 430,000 U.S. soldiers have been inoculated through the Bush administration's program, the first civilian use of the vaccine since smallpox was wiped out as a natural threat more than 30 years ago. The program began after attacks with the anthrax germ raised concern that terrorists might gain access to stores of smallpox virus held in the U.S. and Russia.

Manufacturers of the smallpox vaccine include the U.K.'s Acambis Plc and Baxter International Inc., based in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Illinois.

Researchers are investigating whether the vaccine played a role in the man's brain illness. Brain inflammation, or encephalitis, was a rare complication when the vaccine was in wide use in the 1960s and 1970s, occurring in about two to 12 people of every million inoculated, the report said.

The smallpox shot contains a live virus called vaccinia that causes mild reactions such as fever in about one of three recipients, and serious skin and eye infections in as many as one out of 1,000. Complication rates may change in the government's current program because the vaccine is being used in adults rather than children, and fewer people have immunity to vaccinia virus, according to a report from the U.S. Institute of Medicine.

Disease trackers are also investigating 18 cases of heart complications, including two deaths, that occurred in vaccinated civilians. The study will be published tomorrow in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Last Updated: May 22, 2003 12:00 EDT