Smallpox
Find out why Mayo Clinic is the right place for your health care. Make an appointment..
Find a directory of doctors and departments at all Mayo Clinic campuses. Visit now..
See how Mayo Clinic research and clinical trials advance the science of medicine and improve patient care. Explore now..
Educators at Mayo Clinic train tomorrow’s leaders to deliver compassionate, high-value, safe patient care. Choose a degree..
Explore Mayo Clinic’s many resources and see jobs available for medical professionals. Get updates..
Your support accelerates powerful innovations in patient care, research and education. Give today..
Smallpox is a contagious, disfiguring and often deadly disease that has affected humans for thousands of years. Naturally occurring smallpox was eradicated worldwide by 1980 — the result of an unprecedented global immunization campaign.
Samples of smallpox virus have been kept for research purposes. This has led to concerns that smallpox could someday be used as a biological warfare agent.
No cure or treatment for smallpox exists. A vaccine can prevent smallpox, but the risk of the vaccine’s side effects is too high to justify routine vaccination for people at low risk of exposure to the smallpox virus.
These are smallpox lesions on the skin of the trunk. This photograph was taken in Bangladesh in 1974.
The first symptoms of smallpox usually appear 10 to 14 days after you’re infected. During the incubation period of seven to 17 days, you look and feel healthy and can’t infect others.
Following the incubation period, a sudden onset of flu-like signs and symptoms occurs. These include:
A few days later, flat, red spots appear first on your face, hands and forearms, and later on your trunk. Within a day or two, many of these lesions turn into small blisters filled with clear fluid, which then turns into pus. Scabs begin to form eight to nine days later and eventually fall off, leaving deep, pitted scars.
Lesions also develop in the mucous membranes of your nose and mouth and quickly turn into sores that break open.
Smallpox is caused by infection with the variola virus. The virus can be transmitted:
Most people who get smallpox survive. However, a few rare varieties of smallpox are almost always fatal. These more-severe forms most commonly affect pregnant women and people with impaired immune systems.
People who recover from smallpox usually have severe scars, especially on the face, arms and legs. In some cases, smallpox may cause blindness.
In the event of an outbreak, people who had smallpox would be kept in isolation in an effort to control the spread of the virus. Anyone who had contact with someone who developed an infection would need the smallpox vaccine, which can prevent or lessen the severity of the disease if given within four days of exposure to the smallpox virus.
The vaccine uses a live virus that’s related to smallpox, and it can occasionally cause serious complications, such as infections affecting the heart or brain. That’s why a general vaccination program for everyone isn’t recommended at this time. The potential risks of the vaccine outweigh the benefits, in the absence of an actual smallpox outbreak.
Lab tests suggest certain antiviral drugs may be effective against the virus that causes smallpox. These drugs have not been tested in people who are sick with smallpox, however, so it’s not known if these drugs are effective treatment options.
Immunity or partial immunity after a smallpox vaccine may last up to 10 years, and 20 years with revaccination. If an outbreak ever occurred, people who were vaccinated as children would still likely receive a new vaccination after direct exposure to someone with the virus.
Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission.
Check out these best-sellers and special offers on books and newsletters from Mayo Clinic.
Any use of this site constitutes your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy linked below.
A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. “Mayo,” “Mayo Clinic,” “MayoClinic.org,” “Mayo Clinic Healthy Living,” and the triple-shield Mayo Clinic logo are trademarks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.
This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information:
verify here.
Smallpox
Research & References of Smallpox|A&C Accounting And Tax Services
Source
0 Comments