Vaccinations And Immunization : Infection Of The Variola Virus

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

Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate an individual 's immune system to develop adaptive immunity to a pathogen. In simpler words, a vaccination is the injection of a killed or weakened organism that produces immunity in the body against that organism. The immune system is the body 's defense against

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 is a highly contagious virus that has no known cure. Variola, is the name of the virus that caused one of the largest epidemics known to man. Smallpox killed nearly 500 million people in the 20th Century alone. Before Smallpox was eradicated it killed nearly 60% of all infected people. Smallpox has been coexisting with humans for thousands of years and has a very long history.

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

Smallpox was once one of the most severe infectious diseases that was endemic throughout the world for most of the recorded history. It is caused by variola virus (a DNA virus and a member of the Poxviridae family), and characterized by three phases: incubation, prodrome and rash. This disease killed and disfigured innumerable millions of people globally.

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,

“can be spread through direct contact with contaminated objects such as clothing, or through bodily fluids, but it generally not spread through the air. ” (“Smallpox facts ”)

Vaccinations are produced by developing a live, but weakened or inactive form of a disease. This weakened form of the disease, is then introduced into the body via injection, inhalation, or ingestion. Providing the body with this inactive version of the disease, the body’s natural defense mechanisms are triggered and begin creating antibodies against the disease, which in turn, allows

One to five days of fever and malaise may precede the appearance of the exanthemas, which begin as macules, followed by papules, then vesicles, and finally pustules. These will form crusts which fall off after two weeks, leaving pink scars that will fade slowly. In affected areas, the lesions are generally found in the same stage of development. Lesions are most abundant on the face and less on the trunk. Variola major is stable in the extracellular environment. It is most commonly transmitted by respiratory spread. Also, the dried virus in crusts from skin lesions can survive on clothes or other materials and can be transmitted to the others. Patients are highly infectious during the first week of rash after the fever began. Respiratory droplets are infectious earlier than skin

When one is given a vaccine, the body’s immune system fights the disease or virus causing the body to become immune to the disease. Before vaccines, the only way to become immune to a disease was too simply contract the disease and hopefully live with no serious side effects or passing on the potentially deadly illness or dangers in a wide-spread epidemic. Vaccinations have been saving lives for over 200 years now. Below is a chart showing the successful impact vaccinations have had in the United States.

Smallpox is caused by the virus variola, also known by its family name Poxviridae. It comes in four variola forms: ordinary, modified, flat, and hemorrhagic. The flat and hemorrhagic strains of smallpox are the most severe and usually result in death.

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 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).

The first step to understanding vaccinations is realizing what they are. It should be made very clear that an immunization and a vaccination are two different things. An immunization is what occurs after a vaccination is administered. A vaccination is the specific process of administering a dead or weakened pathogen into an otherwise very healthy person. As a consumer, it is important for people to understand that there are many types of vaccines in the world, and each kind has its own unique benefits and risks. The three most common types of vaccines are live vaccines, inactivated vaccines, and subunit vaccines. A live vaccine is the one that most people associate with the topic of vaccination. A live vaccine is host to a weakened pathogen that cannot cause diseases in the person it is administered to. This weakened pathogen acts as a teacher to our body’s cells in how to react if a non-weakened pathogen were to invade our immune system. Inactivated vaccines are those in which the