Jamie Lucas
Jeff Foster
Microbiology
March 9, 2017
SMALLPOX
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,
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Given its rapid and deadly spread, conquers would place an exposed garment within enemy territory and wait. The virus would wipe out entire civilizations in a matter of months. Smallpox spreads rapidly throughout the lymph nodes. The infected person will remain asymptomatic through day 3-4 while the virus works its way through the spleen and bone marrow. This makes for a somewhat anonymous attack. Infection only requires a brief encounter with an exposed person or object. The exposer could appear to be completely healthy. Symptoms do not begin to surface until the 8-12th-day toxemia and fever are occurring. The virus then localizes in the small blood vessels of the dermis. In the earlier years, these symptoms were often confused with other illness. It isn't until approximately day 14, the patient is apparently infectious. The spleen, liver, kidneys, bone marrow and other viscera will contain large amounts of the virus. Lesions on the skin start forming as the capillaries dilate and the endothelial tissues swell. Now, even a lay person can make a visual diagnosis. The plasma cells and macrophages can be seen. The cells increase in size, the cell membranes rupture, leading to vesicular lesions. Migration of polymorphonuclear cells into the vesicles cause postulation. A pustule becomes slowly desiccated causing the crusty/scabby appearance of the lesions. The progression of the disease makes it the perfect weapon. At the point in time that the first infected person is visually diagnosed, they have potentially infected numerous people around them. Causing the deadly virus to almost instantly reach epidemic proportions. In the early days of Smallpox, someone or something had to be the contaminant jeopardizing both civilizations. Today with the conveniences we have such as air travel, running water, and complete mobilization the virus could be easily placed in our society. Given our
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
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.
In a letter to Patrick Henry in 1777, George Washington wrote of Small Pox “I know that it is more destructive to an army in the natural way than the sword”. At times the most minute things have the most immense impact on our lives, such was the smallpox Epidemic of 1775. It is not known how or where the outbreak began, but by 1775 it was raging through Boston. The devastation of Smallpox during 1775 played a key role in the outcome of the revolutionary war and in shaping modern medicine and how we handle diseases. But these medical advances didn't come without terrible sacrifice. Nearly 30% of people living in the Americas or 130,658 would succumb to smallpox. The death rate of Variola Major, which is the common form
There are many mysteries about the smallpox virus. Since the seventeenth century, doctors have understood that if the pustules merge into sheets across the body the victim will usually die: the virus has split the whole skin. If the victim survives, the pustules turn into scabs and fall off, leaving scars. This is known as ordinary smallpox.
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
Smallpox, also know as variola virus, is extremely contagious and lethal. In modern day it has been eradicated and we no longer vaccinate the human population. Symptoms begin 12-14 days after infection; after 1-2 days spots turn into blisters and then pustules and after 8-9 days these pustules become crusted. If the person survives, large disfiguring scars remain (Merck, 2003).
Smallpox is extremely dangerous because there is no known cure. Smallpox can spread through the air and physical contact with the pox marks or anything that the pox marks touch. The Variola Virus spread so quickly that it caused over 50 million infections per year. Symptoms of Smallpox include vomiting, chills, fever, rashes, malaise, blisters,
There are a couple symptoms to smallpox, mostly affecting your skin. The first couple of days, it will begin with normal symptoms of a fever. Eventually, there will be body aches, headaches, and you will begin to feel weaker. Small, round blisters appear all around the body. Within a week, the pox becomes filled with pus and gets bigger. Then eventually, the blisters crust and stomach pains will most likely occur. Within the next couple of weeks, the blisters become scabs and they fall off, which result in scars on the skin. You could get scars, blindness and your hands and feet could get deformed. The scars stay on your body.
Smallpox is a highly contagious infectious disease. The type of microbe for smallpox is the Variola virus. Smallpox is caused by either the Variola major or the Variola Minor. This virus is spread by direct contact. The disease was likely to be in human populations about 10,000 BC. An epidemic broke out in 1519 with the Aztecs and the Conquistadors in Tenochtitlan Mexico. The epidemic killed a total of twenty five percent of the Aztecs population leaving it easy for Cortes and the conquistadors to take over the desired
Humans eradicated smallpox. Through worldwide vaccination efforts, there has not been a single wild case of smallpox, the disease that killed nearly half those it infected, since 1978. This magnificent public health feat is being replicated worldwide for more than 20 pathogens, in the process protecting humans from a host of debilitating and deadly diseases. However, we cannot rest on our laurels. We still face numerous infectious diseases with effects just as devastating as smallpox. To combat these diseases, we must put new vaccine development and improvement at the forefront of our medical research.
The brutal symptoms of smallpox reveal why the disease is known as one one of the deadliest in history. Smallpox slowly deteriorates the victim in distinct symptom stages. Symptoms begin to display after approximately ten days since the victim was exposed to the Variola virus. Suddenly, the victim will feel flu-like symptoms including headache, fever, overall discomfort, severe back pain, vomiting, and severe fatigue (“Smallpox.”). Brutal symptoms such as these, unfortunately, are only the beginning for a terrible disease such as smallpox. Next, symptoms become much more visible. After a day or two the forearms, face, and hands will develop flat, red spots. Red spots will eventually develop into small to moderate blisters which are
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
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”).