Smallpox patient

×Top Health Categories • Coronavirus Disease COVID-19 • Gastrointestinal Health • Artificial Intelligence • Heart Disease • Mpox • High Blood Pressure • Allergies • Lung Cancer • Alzheimer's & Dementia • Mental Health • Arthritis & Rheumatology • Pregnancy • Breast Cancer • Type 1 Diabetes • Cold, Flu & Cough • Type 2 Diabetes • Diet & Nutrition • Sexual Health • Eating Disorders • Sleep • Eye Health • By Pooja Toshniwal Paharia Reviewed by Smallpox is considered one of the greatest epidemic disease scourges in human history. Smallpox has been feared for centuries due to its deadly nature, high transmissibility, and lifelong disfigurement. Smallpox is an acute infectious disease caused by the variola virus. The term “smallpox” was initially introduced in Europe in the 15th century and is also known by the Latin names “Variola” or “Variola vera,” which is derived from the Latin words varius or varus, which mean “stained” or “mark on the skin,” respectively. The word ‘poc’ or ‘pocca’ refers to a bag or pouch describing an exanthematous disease. Infection with the variola virus can manifest in two clinical forms, including variola major and variola minor, both of which can be transmitted following prolonged face-to-face contact between people. Infection with variola major is more severe than that with variola minor, with case fatality rates (CFRs) of 30% and less than 1%, respectively. The origin of smallpox is unknown; however, reports indicate that the disease originated in...

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu learned of a way to stop smallpox from women in the Ottoman Empire in the early 18th century. Trying to persuade her country to do the same proved tricky. Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Three hundred years ago, in 1721, England was in the grips of a smallpox epidemic. "There were people dying all over the place," says But as Londoners cowered inside their homes, there was a woman who knew how to end the outbreak. Her name was Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and she had learned a technique from women in the distant Ottoman Empire that could stop the pox in its tracks. What happened next is a tale of politics and public health that bears some "depressingly similar" parallels to the current pandemic, Grundy says. But it also shows how science and determination turned the tide against one of the worst diseases humanity has ever endured. Smallpox was far deadlier than the coronavirus the world is currently battling. But in the 1700s in the Ottoman Empire, centered around modern day Turkey, some women knew how to stop it. These women were part of a vast informal network of female medical professionals. "There were a lot of women practitioners in the Ottoman Empire," says What these women knew was this: Take a bit of pus from a smallpox patient and use a needle to scratch a tiny amount just beneath the skin so it gets into the blood of a healthy person. That person would get a mild form of smallpox and become immune to the more serious version. ...

Smallpox is an ancient disease caused by the variola virus. Early symptoms include high fever and fatigue. The virus then produces a characteristic rash, particularly on the face, arms and legs. The resulting spots become filled with clear fluid and later, pus, and then form a crust, which eventually dries up and falls off. Smallpox was fatal in up to 30% of cases. Smallpox has existed for at least 3000 years and was one of the world’s most feared diseases until it was eradicated by a collaborative global vaccination programme led by the World Health Organization. The last known natural case was in Somalia in 1977. Since then, the only known cases were caused by a laboratory accident in 1978 in Birmingham, England, which killed one person and caused a limited outbreak. Smallpox was officially declared eradicated in 1979. The virus which causes smallpox is contagious and spreads through person-to- person contact and saliva droplets in an infected person’s breath. It has an incubation period of between 7 and 17 days after exposure and only becomes infectious once the fever develops. A distinctive rash appears two to three days later. The most infectious period is during the first week of illness, although a person with smallpox is still infectious until the last scabs fall off. When smallpox was officially certified as eradicated, in December 1979, an agreement was reached under which all remaining stocks of the virus would either be destroyed or passed to one of two secure ...

Smallpox is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. Its hallmark symptom is a distinctive rash that changes in appearance as the disease progresses. ( Smallpox is deadly, killing around 3 in 10 people who are infected. Some experts estimate that in the 20th century alone, smallpox was responsible for 300 million deaths. ( A global smallpox immunization campaign led to the eradication of the disease in the late 1970s. Today, two government research laboratories — one in the United States and the other in Russia — hold the last remaining stores of the virus responsible for smallpox. ( After a person is infected with the variola virus, there is a nonsymptomatic incubation period during which the virus replicates in the body. This stage lasts anywhere from 7 to 19 days, with an average of 10 to 14 days. The first symptoms are usually: • High fever • Headaches • Body aches, including backaches • Vomiting These symptoms typically last two to four days and are severe enough to prevent normal day-to-day activities. Other possible symptoms may include: • Chills • Severe • Fatigue • Delirium • Diarrhea • Malaise • Nausea • Excessive bleeding (1, After the first symptoms of headaches, fever, and body aches, the next sign of the disease to appear is a rash, beginning with small, flat red spots on the tongue and in the mouth. The rash develops into sores that break open. Typically within a day, the rash spreads to the face and then to the arms and legs, followed by the hands, fe...

Smallpox is an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus, a member of the orthopoxvirus family. It was one of the world's most devastating diseases known to humanity. The last known natural case was in Somalia in 1977. It was declared eradicated in 1980 following a global immunization campaign led by the World Health Organization.