Smallpox
Smallpox is a highly contagious and fatal disease; there is no treatment available to smallpox, and the only way to avoid this infection is through primary prevention measures of vaccination. Smallpox has two clinical forms, variola major (most common) and variola minor (least common) with a fatality rate of 30% and 1% respectively. Variola major has four types of smallpox, ordinary (accounts for 90% of the cases), modified (occurs in vaccinated individuals), hemorrhagic (severe and rare), and flat or malignant (rare and fatal). Smallpox has been declared eradicated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1980, and vaccination of the general public has stopped shortly after; nevertheless, it is an agent of bioterrorism that is available in laboratory stockpiles worldwide (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004).
…show more content…
2 to 4 days after the incubation period, the infected person develops the initial symptoms of fever, chills, head and body aches, and vomit; then, the infected person becomes contagious. Afterward, a rash develops on and in the oral cavity area of the infected person causing the infected to become most contagious. After which, the rash develops to pustular rash, and the infected remains infectious. When the pustules form a crust and then a scab, the infected continue to be contagious. It is only after the scabs resolve and fall off, the infected is no longer infectious (World Health Organization,
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
During the Revolutionary War, one of the main fears were not the enemies bullets, but fear of disease. One of the major viruses that people had to fear was smallpox. The continental army had more to fear than the British in the fact that British had been immunized, and the continental army had not. This was only the beginning of the problems from the smallpox epidemic that broke out in America.
Smallpox is a virus that was first founded in ancient times. The virus?s proper name is Variola rex, and it has various different forms as well as various symptoms. Among these forms are typical smallpox, hemorrhagic smallpox, and malignant smallpox, all of which usually always cause death in their victims. Some of the typical symptoms of smallpox include red vesicles and pustules all over, bleeding from all orifices of the body, swelling in the face, throat, and eyes, difficulty eating and swallowing, delirium, malaise, deterioration of the bone marrow, lymph nodes and mucus membranes of the body, and a multitude of other secondary symptoms. Smallpox is typically diagnosed by ruling out the possibility of other
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,
Armed with opposable thumbs and high-functioning frontal lobes, humans have historically battled disease, including the “the speckled monster”; smallpox. Known as a highly contagious virus, smallpox has been around since 10,000 B.C., and its plagues are responsible for causing millions of deaths. There was no knowledge of how to treat or prevent this disease from spreading until the idea of taking samples of dead smallpox cells and injecting them into a human was proven to build immunity. Over time, the treatment was perfected and has changed medical history by introducing the idea of the vaccine. Smallpox vaccinations eventually became mandated, and in 1979, smallpox was declared to be the first disease to ever be completely eradicated from
Smallpox is caused by the variola virus an extremely contagious disease. That can be spread through any type of contact with the virus. The virus is a member of the genus Orthopoxvirus, in the Poxviridae family. Smallpox has been considered eradicated in the United States since 1972. Virologists have speculated that it evolved from an African rodent poxvirus 10 millennia ago. The name is derived from the Latin word for "spotted" and refers to the raised bumps on the face and body of the patient. (Medscape.com) Smallpox has been to blame for the extinction and almost extinction of many cultures. The disease has been used as biological warfare since the beginning or war. At times,
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
“And so the most successful way of combating smallpox before the discovery of vaccination was inoculation.Inoculation referred to the subcutaneous instillation of smallpox virus into non-immune individuals”(UTUBE).In Europe, new methods of variolation also known as inoculation became quickly known among European doctors. “Since there was also a demand for protection against smallpox, physicians soon began the variolation procedure on a massive scale. Although 2% to 3% of variolated persons died or suffered from diseases transmitted by the procedure itself,
Smallpox also called variola is a serious and deadly disease. It is highly contagious. It presents itself with rash of round pox (blsiters) on face, arms and legs. It is caused by the Variola Virus. There are two forms of this virus Variola Major the deadliest with about 30% of fatally; and Variola minor which had a fatality rate of about 1%. In the Unites States the last case was in 1949. Smallpox is rare since it has been eradicated
Until the development of the smallpox vaccine in 1796, inoculation using the live smallpox virus was the only way to protect people from the deadly disease. Those inoculated had a chance of contracting the full virus and potentially dying from the disease. When Edward Jenner discovered that he could use a similar disease found in cattle, he began the modern era of vaccination (The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 2015). Over the next 200 years, smallpox was essentially driven extinct by vaccination programs. Due to vaccines, a disease that killed an estimated 300 million people in the 20th century alone now only exists in a Center for Disease Control laboratory. (Flight, 2011).
There are samples of smallpox being kept in laboratories to create vaccines, in case there is another smallpox outbreak in the United States; however, this is considered to be a potential agent of bioterrorism. With the eradication of smallpox in America, it was not necessary to continue using the smallpox vaccine on Americans. This makes Americans who haven’t been immunized for smallpox more susceptible to contracting and spreading it if there was another outbreak to occur. Therefore, this makes America vulnerable to the disease if someone were to introduce it to the population. (Whitley RJ). If this were to happen, we would risk infecting every other place in the world because of how many people and products from America move around the
There are several different kinds of communicable diseases in today’s society. Smallpox happens to be one. Smallpox is considered to be a contagious, and fatal infectious disease. Smallpox has been existence for over 200 years, and the first known outbreak strated in Eruope and traveled to India and parts of Asia. “The pox part of smallpox is derived from the Latin word for “spotted” and refers to the raised bumps that appear on the face and body of an infected person,” (CDC, 2016, para 1). Smallpox is caused by the Variola virus. There are two clinical forms of smallpox, Variola major and minor. The most common form of smallpox is Variola major which is the most severe. “The last case of smallpox in the United States was in 1949. The last
Immunizations have lowered the morbidity rate over the course of many years. Before vaccines were introduced, during 1900 through 1904, an average of 48,164 cases and 2528 deaths were caused by both severe and mild forms of smallpox in the United States. After the smallpox vaccine was introduced, the disease ceased to stop and the last case to ever be reported was in 1929. Getting vaccinated against the smallpox actually eradicated the disease, meaning it has been wiped out. Next, in 1951- 1954, on average, 16,316 polio cases and 1879 polio deaths were reported each year. Once the polio vaccine was introduced, less that 1000 cases were reported in 1962. As of 1991, wild-type polio viruses have been eliminated from the Western Hemisphere. But
I think it was not a good idea. The population grow rapidly and bring troubles, such as Smallpox Epidemic. The disease spread quickly and it caused over half of the coastal First Nations population had died. It also caused debts and the economic declined. Then the gold was running out and the miners left. These debts were too much and caused the British Columbia to merge with
At the time smallpox was the most feared disease and killed up to 33% of the people that came contact with the disease. Smallpox is caused by the virus variola. It enters the body through the lungs and is carried in the blood to the internal organs, which