Everything You Need to Know About Smallpox

Symptoms of Smallpox

Symptoms of smallpox usually appear in stages about 10 to 14 days after you are exposed to the virus. The initial symptoms include:

• Fever

• Chills

• Headaches

• Body aches, including back pain

• Sore throat

• Fatigue

• Vomiting

• Loss of appetite

• Severe abdominal pain

After 2-4 days of the initial symptoms, a person develops rashes or flat red spots which start in the mouth, on the tongue and then spread to other parts of the body. The rashes then develop into blisters and last several days.

What Causes Smallpox?

Smallpox is caused by the Variola virus. It is contagious and spreads through:

• Close face-to-face contact with people who have been infected with the virus. The virus spreads when an infected individual sneezes, coughs, or talks.

• Contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids, especially from the blisters or skin sores

• Through contaminated clothes, towels, blankets or other items of the infected person

• Through air in enclosed places like offices and public transport like buses or trains, etc.

Risk Factors

Smallpox has been eradicated, so the risk of getting infected with the virus is quite low. Before its eradication, some of the factors which increased the risk of developing this disease are:

• Those who had not been vaccinated were at greater risk

• Close contact with infected persons

• Travel to areas where smallpox was endemic

• Infants and older individuals

• Poor sanitation and unhygienic conditions

How is Smallpox Diagnosed?

Diagnosis of smallpox is usually based on symptoms like high fever and rashes throughout the body. Your doctor may also test blood or tissue samples from the blisters to confirm the diagnosis.

Treatment Options

If someone is infected with smallpox, antiviral medications are used to treat it. As smallpox has been eradicated worldwide, vaccination is no longer considered necessary. However, those who work in research laboratories or other settings where there is a risk of getting infected may take the vaccine as a precaution. A person diagnosed with smallpox may also be kept in isolation to prevent transmission of the virus.

Smallpox Prevention

Before the eradication of smallpox, vaccines were the best way to prevent it. Now, vaccines are no longer routinely administered as the disease has been wiped out. But if there’s any outbreak, the infected people will be given antiviral medications and should isolate themselves to prevent the spread of the virus. If you come in contact with someone who has smallpox, you may need to take the vaccine, which can protect you from contracting the disease or prevent it from becoming severe if infected. The vaccine must be taken before or within one week of being exposed to the virus. You must stay away from people with smallpox to protect yourself from the virus.