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Previous Volume 347:691-692 August 29, 2002 Number 9 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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To the Editor: Bicknell's Sounding Board article (April 25 issue)¹ includes some factual errors. Smallpox is not transmitted during its preeruptive period. It spreads only from overtly ill persons.^2,3 Ring vaccination is not just for small outbreaks. It was the method that eradicated smallpox from the areas of India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia where the disease was hyperendemic.

The number of cases spread from each case in the German and Yugoslav outbreaks did not vary from 11 to 38. The majority of cases yielded zero spread. Even in the completely missed first generation of the Yugoslav outbreak, only two patients spread . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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