Smallpox
What is smallpox? Smallpox is a contagious deadly disease that can easily be transferred from one person to another either by face-to-face contact or direct contact with bodily fluids such as sweat and saliva from someone who’s infected such as sneezing, coughing, or skin touching. They can also spread from being in contact with contaminated objects as well. Those who are infected usually doesn’t know they are infected until 7-17 days later when they start developing flu like symptoms such as a high fever beyond 101 Fahrenheit, fatigue, headache, and backache. The only way for doctors to diagnose this disease is by checking its main and most common feature. The appearance of smallpox are pus-filled blisters that forms on the skin during illness and the number of those blisters increases over time as shown in the picture below, and eventually they becomes scabs. The person will continuously remain infectious and contagious until the last remaining scab separates from the body. Smallpox is a member of the orthopoxvirus family and is closely related to chickenpox, cowpox, and monkeypox virus. It has two clinical forms which is Variola major and Variola minor. Variola minor is a less common form of Variola major, and Variola major is separated into four types of small pox which are: Ordinary: The most frequent type being responsible for 90% and more cases.
Modified: The mild type that occurred in previous vaccinated people
Flat and Hemorrhagic: Which are the
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 transmission of the smallpox was yet another unavoidable disease that was constantly contracted. “The Negroes are so incident to the smallpox that few ships that carry them escape without it.” (Document B) “pain in the head, back, shivering, vomiting, fever, etc.” (Document B) Due to the small living conditions, diseases, such as the Smallpox, were easily transmitted and passed throughout the
Throughout history, it can be seen that many events reoccur in the same way. There is a period of prosperity and confidence, followed by a period of depression and despair. That later on leads to a period of attempting restoration to recover from that depression. The "Roaring Twenties" is a perfect example of this case, as the economic prosperity and confidence during the 1920's led to depression and despair to restoration.
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 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 was a very devastating disease during the mid-1700’s and killed over 400,000 people annually across Europe. Smallpox spread rapidly and was a very contagious disease. Smallpox was caused by the variola virus and after being infected with the disease people would experience symptoms that included headaches, chills, backaches, fever, rashes along with a breakout of pimples. People who were infected with the variola virus would recuperate, however, three out of ten people would die. Fortunately, in July 1796, a rural physician named Edward Jenner found the variolation procedure to prevent people from developing the severe virus of smallpox.
The Ruination of Smallpox Diseases have been around since the beginning of time. Some have come and gone without being noticed. Others however, have come and destroyed civilizations. They can do everything from causing a cough to viciously scaring their victims and in the worst cases, even killing them. The worst of all of them is Smallpox.
Variola major and Variola minor. Those are the names of the two viruses that causes people to get Smallpox. The reason Variola major is more life threatening because it has a higher fatality rate by 25 percent The variola virus minor is less life threatening but not as worse .
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
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 a disease that is contagious and can possibly be fatal. First, one type of the smallpox disease is the Variola major. Variola major comes in four different forms. These forms are ordinary, modified, flat, and hemorrhagic. Next, the other type of smallpox virus is Variola minor. This type of smallpox is less severe, and also less common.
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,
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
The earliest case of smallpox according to a journal published in the US National Library of Medicine titled, “Edward Jenner and the History of Smallpox and Vaccination” was recorded as early as 1122 BC. (Riedel “Smallpox the Origin of a Disease”). Mankind’s triumph over this horrible disease was initiated by an English doctor named Edward Jenner. Through observations and experimentation, Jenner would create a procedure now known as vaccination. (Riedel “Edward Jenner”). During the next two centuries, vaccinations would be used worldwide to stop the spread of small pox. After the successful worldwide vaccination campaign led by the World Health Organization, small pox was eradicated worldwide in 1980. As a result of the eradication of smallpox according