Smallpox treatment is a positive shot in the U.S. arm

There is plenty to be discouraged about in any given news cycle. So it’s refreshing to find those nuggets of good news that also suggest progress and pragmatism — albeit in fits and starts — by the human race.

There was just such a nugget in last Saturday’s Albuquerque Journal in the form of a small story about federal regulators approving the first-ever treatment for smallpox — a devastating disease that killed 300 million people worldwide in the 20th century before its eradication in a global immunization effort.

That 300 million isn’t a typo. And it represents a number almost four times greater than the highest estimates for military and civilian casualties for World War II — including related causes of death, such as famine.

Smallpox is a highly contagious disease that presumably was eradicated by 1980, but people born since then haven’t been vaccinated and small samples of the deadly virus were saved for research purposes, leaving open the possibility it could be released by accident or used as a biological weapon.

Maker SIGA Technologies of New York has now delivered 2 million treatments that will be stockpiled by the U.S. government, which partially paid for development of the drug, called TPOXX. It has been safety-tested in humans and proved effective in treating lab animals infected with a similar virus.

Before the disease was wiped out, doctors could do nothing but keep patients in isolation and provide supportive care, such as IV fluids. Symptoms include fever, fatigue and pus-filled sores.

We can all hope and pray the drug will never be needed. But we can all be thankful for the caution, dedication and perseverance that created it. Just in case.