The Wonders of Smallpox

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

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.

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.

Many parts of this epidemic are common to other epidemics of its kind. This smallpox epidemic affected the Native American tribes to the west, the North American colonies of France and England to the east and north, and the Spanish colonies to the south. Smallpox is contagious disease

become known as pustules. The rash becomes fully developed between 12 and 14 days after the symptoms of the disease appear. As the disease follows its course, symptoms become more and more severe and uncomfortable for the patient. Red spots on the patient begin to turn black, while others turn white, the individual experiences strong delirium, hemorrhages of blood at the anus, mouth, and nose, raw flesh from the stripping of the skin, and fistulous ulcers in the ligaments, body, limbs, and joints. Smallpox is also associated with the unbelievable amount of swelling and protuberance in the throat and eyes, which obstruct vision as well as the ability to swallow and perform similar functions. The virus also causes the rotting of the ligaments and bones.

Smallpox is a viral infection caused by Variola major. This infection is currently one of the most dreaded diseases, and is believed to be more dangerous than the enemy’s sword. The exposure is usually an infection of the respiratory tract. After exposure, early symptoms are: headaches, back aches, fever, vomiting, discomfort, and feeling out of sorts. These symptoms go away usually in two days, and the patient feels better. Then about two days later, the patient has a flustered face, and lesions on the mouth, throat, and nasal membranes. At 5 days past exposure, red rashes and bumps appear on the skin, bleeding through skin, and mucous membranes. If the patients bleeds through their eyes, gums, or nose, the patient will not live much longer, but that is not usually the case. The bumps may touch each other or they may be separate from each other. If the bumps do not touch, the patients has a good chance of surviving. But if the bumps do touch, the patient has a forty percent chance of surviving. Dehydration is common in patients because it may be painful or difficult to drink. Around day ten, the bumps will become soft, and blisters will form. The fluid in the bumps is absorbed because of dehydration. A smell often comes from cracked bumps, and a second bacterial infection may occur due to the openings in the body. Two weeks after initial symptoms, the bumps and blisters are replaced by scabs. One week later the fever disappears, the patient returns to a normal life, and the

The first case of smallpox was found on the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses V in the 3rd Century BCE. After Egypt, in the 4th Century, variola is thought to have spread to China, where people prayed to the god Yo Hoa Long to try to prevent themselves getting sick, of course, this was to no prevail. After spreading to China, because of the increasing trade with Japan and Korea, smallpox spread even further. This deadly pathogen spread quickly, as somebody only needed to be breathed on, and they could be infected. During the 7th century, smallpox was widespread throughout India and was quickly spreading towards northern Africa, Spain, and Portugal because of the expansion of Arabic people. 300 years later, in the 10th century, variola crept into Asia Minor and modern-day Portugal. During the Crusades in the 11th century, smallpox spread further throughout Europe and infect many more unsuspecting people. Smallpox spreads to northern England, which was previously not affected by this deadly disease. When Smallpox spread to Northern England, it caused multiple outbreaks that traveled as far north as Iceland. Smallpox at this point had already killed people from Egypt all the way to Northern Europe and was not stopping there. In the 15th-16th Century, smallpox was spread through Portuguese traders into Africa. European colonization and the African slave trade spread Variola

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.

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,

With the major strides in medicine that have come about in the last few decades, the notion of a plague seems to be becoming less of a possibility and more a thing of antiquity. Around the latter half of the 20th century, doctors thought that disease as a whole would be eradicated with the new vaccinations and antibiotics that were being produced. For the first time in history it seemed as if diseases were under control. It was not long before the arrogance of modern medicine found new epidemics that were not so easily cured. To this day the only disease to be eradicated is smallpox, which was announced in the 1980s. Decades after achieving the eradication of small pox in nature, new pathogens like SARs, AIDS/HIV,

A smallpox outbreak could be devastating to the population without proper precautions. There were also a few cases of smallpox outbreaks due to a patient being misdiagnosed. For example, Colette Flight states, "Muzza had been misdiagnosed as suffering from a bad reaction to penicillin". Colette also states, "Janet Parker was infected with smallpox, but was initially diagnosed as a drug rash". We can learn from history that smallpox does spread easily.

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

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

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”).