Smallpox

Overview

Smallpox is a contagious and deadly viral disease that can lead to permanent scarring as well as disfigurement. It has affected individuals for thousands of years, killing about 1 in 3 infected people. However, there haven’t been any cases reported since 1978 and it has been believed to be eradicated after 1980. However, samples of the virus are still kept in some laboratories for the purpose of research.

What is Smallpox?

Smallpox is a serious viral disease that led to the death of millions of individuals before it was completely eradicated. However, with the consistent efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO), it has been completely eradicated. They developed vaccines and controlled outbreaks to achieve their goal of smallpox eradication. With this, smallpox became the first disease for which vaccines were developed as prevention. However, with time, researchers are developing various antiviral medications that are used to treat people who are suffering from smallpox.

Types of Smallpox

Following are the different types of smallpox diseases that differ slightly from each other in terms of symptoms:

Ordinary smallpox: This is the most common type of smallpox, causing about 85% of cases. Common symptoms of this condition include fever, headache, stomach ache, blindness, vomiting, and stomach pain.

Flat-type (malignant) smallpox: This variant of smallpox results in symptoms that are more severe when compared to the ordinary type. For instance, the bumps from the rashes merged together but were never filled with fluid or became hard. It mostly occurred in children and was almost always fatal.

Modified-type smallpox: The modified-type smallpox mainly develops in people who have already taken the smallpox vaccine. Although it appears somewhat similar to smallpox, the rash is less severe for the modified type and does not last long. Also, most people survive through this condition.

Haemorrhagic smallpox: It is most frequented in pregnant women is often accompanied by severe initial symptoms and is mostly fatal. Here, instead of getting fluid-filled and hard, the skin under it bled offering it a burnt or black appearance. They even caused severe internal bleeding, leading to organ failure and death of the patient.

Symptoms of Smallpox

Usually, the first symptom of smallpox appears after 12 to 14 days of being exposed to the smallpox virus. After an incubation period of 7 to 19 days, people will start noticing some flu-like symptoms. Some of the common symptoms that indicate the development of smallpox include severe headache, high fever, stomach pain, backache, vomiting, blindness, the appearance of rashes in the mount that extend to the face and ultimately to the rest of the body, sores and hard pustules from the rash, and so on. The initial signs of this disease are body aches and headaches, high fever, and occasional vomiting. After that the rash starts to appear all over the body, indicating the onset of smallpox.

Causes of Smallpox

The primary reason behind the development of smallpox is infection by the variola virus. Usually, there are 2 primary variants of this virus, variola minor or variola alastrim and variola major. Infection with variola major is the primary cause behind the onset of this condition and at times, leading to the death of the patient. However, only 1% of the cases out of the more than 30% cases that the virus causes. Variola minor, on the other hand, results in somewhat similar but milder symptoms.

Diagnosis of Smallpox

Cases of smallpox are usually considered a public health emergency. This implies that even recording a single case can wreak havoc. During a smallpox outbreak, it is almost next to impossible for healthcare providers to identify it in its early stages. This encourages the spread of the smallpox virus, beyond controllable. So, doctors recommend some special lab tests to confirm that a person has developed this disease.

There are different stages that rash develops through, upon the incidence of smallpox. These stages include:

Appearance of Rash: After the appearance of the initial symptoms of smallpox, rashes start to appear on the tongue, throat, and inner walls of the mouth. Infected people might notice red spots on their mouth which then turn into sores and break open.

Spread of Rash to the Body Parts: Gradually, the rash spreads to arms, torso, back, and legs, and in about a day spreads all over the body including the palms of the hand and souls of the feet.

Appearance of Bumps Filled with Pus: After some time, dents appear on the middle of each bump and within two days they get filled with fluid.

Appearance of Pustular Rash and Scabs: These bumps, with time, get converted into pustules and in the next 10 days, crusty scabs form over them.

Resolution of Scabs in Some Days: Over the next week, the scabs fall off, leaving permanent marks on the skin of the infected person.

Treatment for Smallpox

There are various treatment and medication options that doctors prescribe when the patient is suffering from smallpox. One such medicine is Brincidofovir which researchers have found to be effective in treating smallpox developing in animals as well as in other lab testing. Hence, it has been prescribed to healthy people as a preventive measure as well as to a person who

Preventive Measures for Smallpox

Individuals can avoid the development of smallpox by taking the vaccinia virus vaccine. This type of vaccine is usually made using the virus vaccinia, which is somewhat similar to the smallpox virus but is less harmful.