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Monday, January 26, 2009

Jacob's skin

I was looking at the wikipedia page for eczema today because I wanted to see if it had anything that would explain Jacob's current almost normal skin condition. My theory is that since eczema is the immune system attacking the body, since his immune system has been kept so busy lately, it stopped attacking his body in favor of attacking the sickness. So his skin is now so smooth-way better than when he's on the drugs. Only his head seems to be still bothering him. And even that's way down. Too bad he's so miserable.

Anyway I ran across this, which is good to know!

In June, 2007, Science magazine reported that an American soldier who had been vaccinated for smallpox, a vaccine that contains live vaccinia virus, had transmitted vaccinia virus to his two-year-old son.[48] The soldier and his son both had a history of eczema. The son rapidly came down with a rare side effect, eczema vaccinatum, which had been seen during the 1960s when children were routinely vaccinated against smallpox. The child developed a severe full-body pustular rash, his abdomen filled with fluid, and his kidneys nearly failed. Intense consultation with experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a donation of an experimental antiviral drug by SIGA Technologies saved the child's life. Those with a family history of eczema are advised not to accept the smallpox vaccination, or anything else that contains live vaccinia virus.

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