From The Morning
Call -- September 23, 2002
Just Ask
Where do we get smallpox vaccine?
Q. As I recall from years ago, I believe it was said
that smallpox vaccine was made from live chicken pox virus. Has anyone
checked whether this is the case, and, if so, would these chicken pox
vaccinations interfere with smallpox vaccinations if they should become
necessary? It may be worth checking into since the government has seen fit
to accumulate smallpox vaccine for all Americans.
Roberta Daubenspeck
via e-mail
A. Good question, Roberta, and public health officials have the answers. The
smallpox vaccine is not made from varicella zoster, the virus that causes
chicken pox.
The smallpox vaccine comes from the vaccinia virus, a relative of variola
virus, which causes smallpox.
Because they are both live-virus vaccines, however, chicken pox and smallpox
immunizations would have to be administered simultaneously or at least 28
days apart for the body to develop sufficient immunity to both.
Q: I have asked several folks, but no one knows! Why is Happy Valley called
Happy Valley?
Frank Ballo
Emmaus
A: Happy Valley is a nickname for State College, Penn State University and
the immediate area in Centre County.
Paul Dzyak, a special collections librarian at Penn State's Pattee-Paterno
Library, says former university archivist Lee Stout is researching the
origin of the nickname.
Stout, head of the public services unit in the university's special
collection's library, traces ''Happy Valley'' to the 1960s when he was a
student at Penn State.
It began as a sarcastic term because people there seemingly were oblivious
to outside turmoil such as the Vietnam War and political unrest.
''Over the years, it gradually became a positive term as a nice place to
live,'' Dzyak says.
A business in State College, a Chamber of Commerce marketing campaign and
word of mouth all could have fueled the use of ''Happy Valley'' in a
positive sense.
''It sort of took off,'' Dzyak says.
Now, the nickname is well-known, particularly to college football fans who
hear television announcers use the phrase.
Just Ask appears Mondays. Have a question about things you see, such as a
construction project, around the region or your town? Write to Just Ask, c/o
Newsroom, The Morning Call, 101 N. Sixth St., Allentown 18105. Or send
e-mail to justask@mcall.com.
Copyright © 2002,
The Morning Call |
Email this story
Printer friendly format 
