ODH:  Physicians Should Note Military Personnel will Receive Smallpox Vaccine

     The Ohio Department of Health has received notification that military personnel in Ohio and across the United States will be receiving the smallpox vaccine.  Some military personnel are being deployed and others are returning to their communities.  Ohio clinicians should be aware of this fact and should question individuals about smallpox vaccine and/or smallpox vaccine in a family member when evaluating a rash/illness.
Ohio is tentatively planning to initiate the smallpox vaccine for civilian health care and public health personnel in mid to late February 2003.
      A discussion of smallpox adverse events and management can be found in the MMWR Dispatch article published on January 24, 2003.  The article is available on the CDC web site:  www.cdc.gov/smallpox .