Smallpox Disease
By: Leia Gardner
Smallpox: Cause and How it is Transmitted
Smallpox is cause by the variola virus. It is transmitted by breathing in the virus, saliva, close face-to-face contact, handling clothes or sheets with the disease, and bodily fluids. Animals and insects do not spread smallpox.
Smallpox: Symptoms
Smallpox has a lot of symptoms. Here are a few of the symptoms such as a fever, malaise*, head and body aches, vomiting, rashes, sores and blisters, and scabs. The fever is usually 101 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
* Malaise is discomfort or illness which is hard to explain.
Smallpox: Treatment
There is no official treatment to smallpox. There is a vaccine that will help reduce the severity. It can help prevent it in some cases, it usually last up to ten years.
Smallpox: Preventing the Disease
There is really only one way to help prevent smallpox. You can get the vaccine, which is the cousin virus - vaccinia virus - to the variola virus. It is not lifelong and there is still a risk of you getting smallpox.
Smallpox: Facts
- George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Mozart all survived smallpox.
- Edward Jenner first discovered an immunity to smallpox in the 20th century.
- At least 300 million people died from smallpox in the 20th century.
- At least 50 famous people died from smallpox.
Smallpox: Quotes
"Smallpox was the worst disease in history. It killed more people than all the wars in history." -Larry Brilliant
" I hope that some day the practice of producing cowpox in human beings will spread over the world - when that day comes, there will be no more smallpox." -Edward Jenner
Sources
www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/smallpox-causes-treatment
emergency.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/overview/disease-facts.asp
www.medscape.com/viewarticle/472400_3
www.ncbi.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1200696/
www.ranker.com/list/famous-people-who-died-of-smallpox/
www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/smallpox_01.shtml