Military Small Pox Vax can sexually transmit live virus

I had to get a postpartum MMR shot, and I remember being reassured the LIVE VIRUSES would not be transmitted to my sweet newborn--there's a reason people wash their hands before holding babies: they don't have a working immune system.

Then my friend contradicted this, telling me that a recently MMR'd person was not allowed near a family member with leukemia due to transmission worries. So I looked it up in the Physician's Desk Reference, and yep, there is was--MMR can be transmitted via respiration AND breast milk. GAHHHHH.

Part of the problem is, we don't really know what vaccines do, besides the antibody thing, and we don't really care. Here's a case of the smallpox vax infecting a sexual partner, and what does the doctor do? Even though she tells him about the vax, he only tests her for STDs?

Military folks (the only ones who really get the smallpox vaccine these days) andt hose who have sex with them watch OUT:

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) -- After having sex with a soldier recently vaccinated against smallpox, a young woman in Washington state developed an illness caused by the vaccinia virus used in the shot, U.S. health officials report.

This type of viral transmission, while rare, is not unheard of, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

read more here.