Woman gets smallpox after sex with soldier beau

Cape town, July 5 (ANI): Making out with soldier beau left a young woman in Washington suffering from smallpox, revealed US health officials.

After having sex with a soldier who was recently vaccinated against smallpox, the woman developed an illness caused by the vaccinia virus used in the shot.

The patient visited an urgent care clinic with painful, ring-shaped vaginal swelling," Health24.com quoted Andrea McCollum, an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer with the CDC, as saying.

"A few days before that, she had sexual contact with her boyfriend who was a recent smallpox vaccinee via the military," he added.

First doctor tested her for common STDs and despite taking the antibiotics and antiviral medications, the woman continued having lesions and pain for the next three days, according to the report published in the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

A second doctor then sent her to an infectious disease specialist who confirmed that she had the vaccinia virus, which is relatively mild compared to smallpox.

However, the woman did not require any specific treatment as it eventually resolved, said McCollum.

"The vaccine is not smallpox virus, but it's a closely related virus called vaccinia," she added. (ANI)