Danish Cowpox case might be a warning

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, April 11 (UPI) -- A Danish researcher says a case of cowpox infection was a warning about viruses in nature and how dangerous viruses might strike without warning.

Laurids Siig Christiansen, senior researcher at Denmark's Institute for Food and Veterinary Research, said a 13-year-old Danish boy contracting the disease should be a warning sign to doctors, researchers and the public in general.

Christiansen was commenting on the six-year-old case of which the Danish health journal Physician's Weekly Journal recently published details, the Copenhagen Post reported Monday.

The boy's infection was not publicized by authorities at the time.

Cowpox is a sickness that heals on its own and is rarely transmitted between humans.

"The boy is an example of what can happen, when nobody is vaccinated anymore against a certain disease, in this case smallpox, and enormous groups of people are no longer immune to the virus," Christiansen said. "We know of cowpox in Denmark, but there could be other viruses that we don't know about and which, unlike cowpox, are dangerous. We ought to prioritize it higher."