What exactly is small pox?

Question

I have heard of this but never really knew what this was. I know that it can be deadly and very contagious but that is all I know.

Answer 1

Smallpox is a disfiguring and potentially deadly infectious disease caused by the Variola major virus. Before smallpox was eradicated, there were two forms of the disease worldwide: Variola major, the deadly disease, and Variola minor, a much milder form. According to some health experts, over the centuries smallpox was responsible for more deaths than all other infectious diseases combined. The disease spreads in any climate and during all seasons. Although a worldwide immunization program eradicated smallpox disease decades ago, small quantities of smallpox virus officially still exist in two research laboratories in Atlanta, Georgia, and in Russia.

The last naturally occurring case of smallpox was reported in 1977. In 1980, the World Health Organization declared that smallpox had been eradicated. Currently, there is no evidence of naturally occurring smallpox transmission anywhere in the world.

Smallpox is highly contagious. In most cases, people get smallpox by inhaling droplets of saliva, which are full of virus, during face-to-face contact with an infected person. When someone becomes infected, they do not immediately feel sick or shed virus to their household contacts. In addition, they have no symptoms for 10 to 12 days. After the virus has multiplied and spread throughout the body, a rash and fever develop. This is the "illness" portion of the disease, and it's when someone is most infectious. In short, someone who becomes infected is not going to be ill until 10 to 12 days later.

Some risk of transmission lasts, however, until all scabs have fallen off. Contaminated clothing or bed linens also can spread the virus. Those caring for people with smallpox need to use special safety measures to ensure that all bedding and clothing from the infected person are cleaned appropriately with bleach and hot water. Caretakers can use disinfectants such as bleach and ammonia to clean contaminated surfaces.

Symptoms of smallpox infection usually appear within 7 to 17 days after exposure to the virus, and on average appear after 12 days. The first symptoms of smallpox may be difficult to distinguish from other flu-like illnesses and include


High fever
Tiredness, malaise
Headache, backache
Rash
A characteristic rash, most prominent on the face, arms, and legs, follows 2 to 3 days after the first symptoms. The rash starts with flat red lesions (sores) that develop at the same rate. After a few days, the lesions become filled with pus, and they begin to crust early in the second week. Scabs develop and then separate and fall off after about 3 weeks.

Answer 2

Small pox is a virus that is specific to human cells; it comes in two different forms called Variola major, and Variola minor. Yes, it is extremely deadly, and is especially contagious amongst populations that have never been exposed to it.

We've had a vaccine for it for some time, so there pretty much isn't any more outbreaks of it anywhere as far as I know.

Answer 3

I think it's a disease that originated in the Americas, and was probably one of the first biological weapons as infected Indian women would allow themselves to be taken advantage of in order to give the fatally contagious disease to the ruthless conquistadors.

For the most part, this disease has been nearly entirely quarantined. But I believe there was an outbreak somewhat recently.

OR...

It might simply be the opposite of a Big Pox.

In any event, if anybody ever says, "The pox on you!" It means, "Die!"

Answer 4

The Disease

Smallpox is a serious, contagious, and sometimes fatal infectious disease. There is no specific treatment for smallpox disease, and the only prevention is vaccination. The name 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.

Origins of smallpox: http://www.thefurtrapper.com/indian_smallpox.htm
African slaves were used on the sugar plantation of the West Indies, and with them came smallpox.

Smallpox was the AIDS of the 1500's...interesting???


smallpox blankets

Despite his fame, Jeffrey Amherst's name became tarnished by stories of smallpox-infected blankets used as germ warfare against American Indians. These stories are reported, for example, in Carl Waldman's Atlas of the North American Indian [NY: Facts on File, 1985]. Waldman writes, in reference to a siege of Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh) by Chief Pontiac's forces during the summer of 1763:

... Captain Simeon Ecuyer had bought time by sending smallpox-infected blankets and handkerchiefs to the Indians surrounding the fort -- an early example of biological warfare -- which started an epidemic among them. Amherst himself had encouraged this tactic in a letter to Ecuyer. [p. 108]

Some people have doubted these stories; other people, believing the stories, nevertheless assert that the infected blankets were not intentionally distributed to the Indians, or that Lord Jeff himself is not to blame for the germ warfare tactic.

Answer 5

Smallpox is a potentially deadly infection caused by the variola virus. The telltale signs of smallpox are severe illness including a high fever. This is followed by a blisterlike body rash. Symptoms of smallpox develop about 12 days after exposure.

Answer 6

Well it basically was just disease that plauged humans for centuries, and eventually due to governments and WHO working together they wiped out small pox, but technically it still hasn;t been wiped out their are still like two samples left in the world officailly in the us and russia, and scientist still carn't figure out if they would wipe them out for good, some people claim that they could be use for terrorism, and others that they could help man kind in the future.

Answer 7

don't forget the tens of millions of natives of the Americas who died from European and African diseases. don't forget the massive crop failures, the never-ending rains and the famine of the early 1300s, before the Black Death. don't forget the plague of Justinian, which killed 40-60 percent of the greater Mediterranean region and effectively ended the lingering era of ancient civilizations. don't forget the Spanish Flu of 1918-19, which wiped out numerous communities around the world. don't forget the 100 Years War, the 30 Years war, the Inquisition, the Crusades, the World Wars and numerous other eras of strife. but somehow seeing bad things on TV is more of a "sign" than living through actual bad times. Odd, huh?

Answer 8

It's a disease that causes first rashes, then blisters, then oozing sores all over your body...It has been eradicated off the face of the planet, except in biological weapons form.

Answer 9

Please see the webpages for more details and images on small pox.

Answer 10

google