Smallpox - Symptoms And Progression Of The Disease, The Discovery Of The Vaccine, Global Eradication Of Smallpox Virus - Diagnosis
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Smallpox is an infection caused by the variola virus, a member of the poxvirus family. Throughout history, smallpox has caused huge epidemics resulting in great suffering and enormous death tolls worldwide. In 1980, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that a massive program of vaccination against the disease had resulted in the complete eradication of the virus (with the exception of stored virus in two laboratories).
Diagnosis, up until the eradication of smallpox, consisted of using an electron microscope to identify the virus in fluid from the papules, in the patient's urine, or in the blood prior to the appearance of the papular rash.
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Smallpox was an extraordinarily contagious disease. The virus spread from contact with victims, as well as from contaminated air droplets and even from objects used by other smallpox victims (books, blankets, etc.). After acquisition of the virus, there was a 12-14 day incubation period, during which the virus multiplied, but no symptoms appeared. The onset of symptoms occurred suddenly and includ…
Fascinating accounts have been written describing ways in which different peoples tried to vaccinate themselves against smallpox. In China, India, and the Americas, from about the tenth century, it was noted that individuals
Smallpox on the arm of a man in India. Photograph by C. James Webb. Phototake NYC. Reproduced by permission.
who had had even a mild case of smallpox could not be infe…
Smallpox is dangerous only to human beings. Animals and insects can neither be infected by smallpox, nor carry the virus in any form. Humans cannot carry the virus, unless they are symptomatic. These important facts entered into the 1967 decision by the WHO to attempt worldwide eradication of the smallpox virus. The methods used in WHO's eradication program were simple: 1) careful surveilla…
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