Smallpox infected patient

Overview Smallpox is a serious and often deadly viral infection. It's contagious — meaning it spreads from person to person — and can cause permanent scarring. Sometimes, it causes disfigurement. Smallpox has affected humans for thousands of years but was wiped out worldwide by 1980 thanks to smallpox vaccines. It's no longer found naturally in the world. The last case of naturally occurring smallpox was reported in 1977. Samples of smallpox virus have been kept for research purposes. And scientific advances have made it possible to create smallpox in a lab. This has led to concerns that smallpox could someday be used as a bioweapon. Vaccines can prevent smallpox, but because most people are unlikely to come in contact with smallpox naturally, routine vaccination isn't recommended. New antiviral medications can be used to treat people who develop smallpox. Smallpox These are smallpox sores on the skin. This photograph was taken in Bangladesh in 1974. The first symptoms of smallpox usually appear 12 to 14 days after you're exposed to the smallpox virus. However, the virus can be in your body from 7 to 19 days before you look or feel sick. This time is called the incubation period. After the incubation period, sudden flu-like symptoms occur. These include: • Fever • Muscle aches • Headache • Severe fatigue • Severe back pain • Vomiting, sometimes A few days later, flat, red spots appear on the body. They may start in the mouth and on the tongue and then spread to the skin. T...

What Is Smallpox? Smallpox is an infection caused by the variola virus. For centuries, epidemics affected people all over the globe, and the disease was often serious. But in 1796, British doctor Edward Jenner discovered a way to protect people from getting smallpox, which led to the development of the first smallpox vaccine. The vaccine worked so well that the United States stopped vaccinating the general population against smallpox in 1972 because the disease was no longer a threat (the last U.S. case of smallpox was in 1949). The world's last known case of smallpox was reported in Africa in 1977. In 1980, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that smallpox was wiped out — the first (and only) time in history that an infectious disease was declared eliminated from the planet. Should We Still Worry About Smallpox? Although smallpox infection was wiped out many years ago, samples of the variola virus that causes smallpox were saved in laboratories. Some people have expressed concern that terrorists could try to get access to these stored virus samples with the aim of spreading smallpox infection. Despite talk about the possibility of terrorists spreading smallpox as a biological weapon, the reality is that this probably wouldn't happen for a couple of reasons. First, terrorists would need access to the virus samples, and the few research laboratories that keep them have security measures to guard them. Also, it would be extremely difficult for a group to take the t...

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023 with a look back at remarkable accomplishments and significant moments in public health history. Few achievements can compare to the global eradication of smallpox. Smallpox is the first and only infectious disease that has been eradicated in humans, which means it no longer exists naturally anywhere in the world. Smallpox is also the first disease for which a vaccine was developed and vaccination played a significant role in eradicating the disease. Prior to eradication, smallpox was a serious disease caused by the variola virus. It frequently led to permanent scarring, blindness, and in many cases death. Smallpox spread from person to person through direct and prolonged contact. When an infected person coughed or sneezed, droplets from their nose and mouth containing viral particles were transmitted to others. Smallpox also spread if contaminated items, or the scabs and fluid from a patient, came into contact with susceptible individuals. Before smallpox was eradicated, the disease took a significant toll on humanity: • About 3 out of every 10 people infected with smallpox died • About 500 million people died due to smallpox over 3,000 years, including 300 million deaths in the 20th century alone • According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, 65-80% of smallpox survivors suffered from deep scars (pockmarks) • About 5-9% of smallpox survivors developed ocular comp...