Throughout history, diseases have been recorded. Some species were wiped out completely, while others learned to adapt. Small pox is one such disease that has the ability to completely destroy the human population.
Smallpox is an acute contagious viral disease, with fever and pustules usually leaving permanent scars. Although there is no cure, there is a vaccine that can help protect you from it. It is called vaccinia and is a poxvirus closely related to the smallpox. Live vaccinia infects the people but it does not make them sick. A smallpox particle can either make or consist of around two hundred different types of protein. In the center of the mulberry of a smallpox particle, there is an odd shape that looks like a dumbbell, this is the
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Stevens went into a coma and was dead in less than a week. His death shook up the Center of Disease Control (CDC) and had them scrambling to find out how to stop it. We are then taken to the United States Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) which is the principle biodefense laboratory in the United States. (Page 35, The Demon in the Freezer) On the books, the smallpox virus exists in only two places: “in freezers in a building called Corpus 6 at Vector in Siberia, and in a freezer in a building called the Maximum Containment Laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.” (Page 55, The Demon in the Freezer) Although people are not for certain, but in a safe at USAMRIID, there is said to be a list containing all of “the nations and groups that the CIA believes either have clandestine stocks of smallpox or are actively trying to get the virus.” Russia is at the top of the list. (Page 57, The Demon in the …show more content…
He had been living in a commune in Bochum and soon began traveling to Asia with some friends. A short time later, Los had to stay behind in Karachi because he had hepatitis. (Page 67, The Demon in the Freezer) When he and his father reached Meschede, he started feeling tired, achy and developed a high fever; he had to be rushed to the hospital. Doctors thought he had typhoid fever; they put him in an isolation ward. He began to feel better a few days later but was still forbidden to leave the room or go to the bathroom. Los wanted a cigarette, so he opened the window in his room just a crack. The nuns at St. Walberga Hospital were not happy about that, but he continued to do it secretly. He felt that the medicines were not working; his throat was hurting. In his inflamed throat, particles of smallpox were oozing out of the spots in the back of his mouth and were mixing with his saliva. Speaking or coughing caused microscopic infective droplets to be released, forming an invisible cloud around him. This cloud was moving throughout the hospital. Smallpox could essentially take down a hospital, infecting the doctors, nurses, and patients. From there, the virus would travel out into the community causing chaos. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that a person with smallpox should stay home under the care of a vaccinated relative or caregiver. Since there was no cure, it was best to just keep the infected away from
Smallpox is an extremely deadly disease which, in one point in time, was the most feared disease on the planet. In the book Pox Americana, Elizabeth A. Fenn writes about the encounter with the deadly disease in the 1770's to the 1780's. Her book was first published in 2001 in New York City, where she originally wrote it. Her book contains just under 400 words that explain the disease, some of the first encounters with it, who and where it affected people, and how they got the epidemic under control. Pox Americana is a very informative book that teaches the reader various things.
Smallpox is a disease caused by a poxvirus that is caught from person to person that causes high fever, and rash, that can kill about 1/3 of those who caught the disease. Smallpox (also called variola) is the only disease that has been fully cured. Smallpox is also almost one of the most scary deaths ever. Not one documented naturally occurring case of this very infectious, deadly disease hasn't occurred since 1977. (An unvaccinated hospital cook in Somalia was the last person to naturally contract smallpox.) The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared smallpox eradicated in
Smallpox is formally known as the Variola virus. Smallpox is a viral infection creating pustules that more than likely will leave scars. This infectious disease creates high fevers and major fatigue in individuals. Smallpox is another disease that reflects the primary goal of vaccinations, eradication. As of today, research has shown that smallpox is the only disease that has been completely eradicated due to vaccinations. With this being said, the allowance of discontinuation of routine immunizations has been set in place. Children who receive these vaccinations only receive one dosage of the vaccination to prevent smallpox. Unlike many other diseases, children receive one to two, maybe even three doses to prevent a certain disease ("Disease Eradication"). The last case of smallpox in the United States was last reported in 1948 and the last case of smallpox in the world was last reported in 1948, in Somalia ("Smallpox Disease
The book is primarily an account of the Smallpox Eradication Program (1967–80), the ongoing perception by the U.S. government that smallpox is still a potential bioterrorism agent, and the controversy over whether or not the remaining samples of smallpox virus in Atlanta and Moscow (the “demon” in the freezer) should be finally destroyed.
When the Europeans had their first contact to the New World, it had a great impact on the spread of diseases that would wiped more than eighty to ninety percent of indigenous population. Neither Europeans nor Native Americans had medicine to fight the diseases. But Europeans had developed throughout the year’s immunities to fight diseases back in their homeland, so they were in a big advantage over the scarce resource that the Native Americans had. One of the main disease that killed millions of indigenous groups was called smallpox. Europeans had been exposed to many diseases throughout their history, in the Old World it was common for children at a young age to be infected with smallpox. So with advanced treatments with smallpox in the Old World, they had a different perspective on how to control these type of diseases. Many indigenous groups had not developed an immunities to fight smallpox. Reference to the book were it mentions that smallpox specifically means not the disease but the pimpled, pustules appearance which is the most obvious symptom of the disease (Crosby, p 43). As a result, many indigenous groups needed to find refuge due to the high percentage of deaths caused by European conquest and
What is smallpox? The internet has defined it as an “acute contagious immune disease, with fever and pustules (small bumps on the skin filled with pus) that will usually will leave scars.” Smallpox originated in India and Egypt over 3,000 years ago. After that it slowly started to progress to other areas across the world. It then started to show itself in places like Africa, Europe and then after a few years later, finally made it’s way into the Americas during the 1500’s.
Smallpox virus's scientific name is variola. It means "spotted" in Latin, and it was given to the disease by a medieval bishop. The virus, as a life form, comes in two subspecies:
Because the smallpox virus attacks the mucus membranes, bone marrow, and lymph nodes of the body, most patients obtain the gruesome disfigurement of the face and nose and limbs.( Bollet
an area infected with smallpox (a markedly less lethal disease than Ebola, and one about
Despite smallpox’s long history of harm, killing nearly 300 million people in the twentieth century alone, it is now considered eradicated thanks to a vaccine and vaccination program lead by the World Health Organization. Because of its eradication,
Smallpox had a very large timeline that affected many. First, smallpox was present in the Egyptian Empire, in a written description the virus clearly resembled smallpox, Later in about the 6th century increased trade with China and Korea introduced smallpox to Japan. Then, smallpox was widespread into India. Arab expansion then spreads smallpox to Africa, Spain, and Portugal. Last, The virus spreads everywhere. From travelers, people trading and, even just being in the same room of someone else who was infected. One more thing is, George
For approximately three-thousand years, smallpox has ravaged and plagued the four corners of the globe. In fact, in the 17 th and 18 th centuries, it was claimed to be the most infectious disease in the West, with an astounding 90% mortality rate in America. It wasn't until 1796, with English surgeon Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination, that the world saw relief from this devastating virus. However, even with this inoculation in use, the world continued to witness death from both the virus and the vaccine. In the year 1966, it was estimated that 10-15 million infected citizens world wide had passed away from smallpox that year alone ( “History” 12). As a result of these devastating numbers, in the following year, 1967, the World Health
Although treatment was limited and symptoms were often treated rather than the virus itself, people did seem to grasp the concept of contagious disease, understanding that infected people should be separated from the healthy (“Smallpox” 3 and 7). A variety of different treatments were developed in different regions all over the world. The Japanese practiced the ‘red treatment’ from the tenth to the nineteenth century, a practice in which the infected patient was surrounded by only the color red because red was believed to have a warming property that encouraged smallpox humors to rise to the surface (Reiss 104). The Chinese ground the scabs into a fine powder and blew it into the nose of a healthy person to immunize them (“Smallpox” 3-4). The Europeans often times treated the symptoms rather than the disease itself by using the methods of purging and bloodletting (Reiss 103). The drinking of tar water was even thought to help cure infected people of the disease in Great Britain; this practice later diffused to Charleston, South Carolina (Reiss
Imagine a quick spreading rash throughout the entire body, leaving not a single space behind; every opening and crevice in your body, including your mouth and eyes covered in painful bumps accompanied by high fever and severe body aches. Flat red spots transforming into fluid-filled lesions and soon oozing out yellow pus, evidently emitting a pungent odor to anyone who dared get close. The live virus present in the darkening crusty scabs that would soon fall off only to leave behind a deep pitted scarred filled complexion on anyone who was fortunate enough to survive. These scars would be forever remembered as the hallmark for the smallpox epidemic which tormented the world for over 3,000 years. (Riedel “Deadly Diseases”).
Smallpox is caused by the variola virus that emerged in human populations thousands of years ago. Smallpox is a specific, infectious, and highly contagious febrile disease known only to be transmitted by humans. It is caused by a virus from air currents which are eventually passed on from person to person. Smallpox varies from a mild form without skin manifestations to a highly fatal hemorrhagic form. Edward Jenner, an English physician, discovered a means of preventing smallpox through vaccination. Gradually mass vaccination programs were introduced in many parts of the world. Smallpox was the first disease conquered by human beings and was eradicated by vaccination. The last known cases of naturally