Smallpox, caused by the variola virus, is a deadly disease with symptoms including fever and raised pustules on the skin. It was eradicated through a successful vaccination campaign, but some samples are kept in laboratories. The disease has two forms, variola major and variola minor, with variola major having a mortality rate of about 30%. The World Health Organization led a campaign to eradicate smallpox using vaccines in the early 20th century. The disease could potentially be reintroduced as a biological weapon.
Smallpox, a disease caused by the variola virus, is one of the biggest disease killers in all of history. Symptoms of smallpox include fever, pain, and raised pustules on the skin that form and often leave disfiguring scars. Smallpox, also known as variola, is believed to have been eliminated through a successful vaccination campaign, with the exception of a few samples kept in locked laboratories.
The course of the disease begins with an incubation period, usually 12-14 days. No symptoms of smallpox are observed during this period and the individual is not contagious. This is followed by two to four days of flu-like symptoms: high fever, aches and sometimes vomiting.
A little later, a rash of red spots appears on the face, nose and mouth. These spread to the hands and feet, then to the whole body within a few days. Shortly thereafter, the flat red spots turn into raised pustules that fill with fluid and develop a crater or depression. The “smallpox” in smallpox refers to these lesions.
After about two weeks of resisting this rash, the bumps crust over. The scabs then fall off, leaving scars. If the individual survives until all the scabs have fallen off, it is very likely that they are free of the disease and no longer contagious.
Smallpox has two forms: variola major and variola minor. The two are similar, except that in the case of variola minor, the symptoms of smallpox are much less severe. Overall, the mortality rate of variola major is about 30%; the mortality rate of variola minor is about 1%.
Variola major can be further divided into four categories: ordinary, modified, flat, and hemorrhagic. Modified smallpox occurs in individuals who have already been vaccinated and is usually less severe. With flat pox, smallpox spots stay flat and soft rather than developing into the characteristic hard, raised bumps. Hemorrhagic smallpox is accompanied by massive bleeding into the skin and mucous membranes, which can occur before or after the rash appears. Both flat and hemorrhagic smallpox are almost always fatal.
Smallpox is believed to only affect humans, and there appear to be no groups of humans with natural immunity to the disease. No effective treatment for smallpox has ever been found, but a vaccination process was discovered in the early 18th century by Greek physician Emanuel Timoni. Edward Jenner, an Englishman, produced a much more viable vaccine using the cowpox virus later in the century.
In the early 20th century, the World Health Organization (WHO) led a campaign to eradicate smallpox using vaccines. The last known patient showing smallpox symptoms outside the laboratory was in 1977, in Somalia. Widespread vaccination for smallpox no longer occurs. Some fear that the disease could be reintroduced into the world as a biological weapon, citing World War II experiments by several world governments to do just that. For this reason, the Russian and US governments keep samples of the disease for future research.
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