Small Pox

Introduction Small Pox

Small Pox is an infectious, disfiguring and often deadly disease
Caused by one of the two virus variants:
Variola major and Variola minor

Origin
The origin of smallpox is unknown while the earliest evidence of the
disease date back to 300 BC in Egyptian mummies.
This disease occurred in outbreaks and caused hundreds of
thousands of deaths yearly. It also lead to blindness and other
Smallpox virus complications in the infected. It is estimated that smallpox killed
upto 300 million people in the 20th century and around 500 million
people the last 100 years of its existence.
  Through extensive and effective immunisation worldwide,
Smallpox disease is believed to be eradicated completely from the
Present Status world.
 The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977
of Smallpox  World Health Organisation certified the global eradication of the
disease in 1980.
 Small pox is characterised by:
 Fever and Vomiting
 Discomfort, Back pain
Signs and  Headache
Symptoms  Appearance of flat red spots on face, followed by
such on hands, forearms and torso.
These spots and lesions later 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.
 Small pox virus ( Variola major or V. minor) can spread through:
 Direct person-to-person contact 
Spread and  Droplet contamination, leading to airborne infection in others
Infection   Use of contaminated items, like bedding, clothing, etc 
 History:
 Small pox vaccine, so termed and developed by British doctor Edward
Jenner in 1796, is the first vaccine to be developed against a
Vaccine and contagious disease. In this technique, Mild cowpox infection was used
Immunisation to develop immunity in people against the deadly smallpox virus.
 However, aside from Jenner’s vaccine, other methods of inducing
against immunity(inoculation) were also practised around the world: in Africa,
China and India.
Smallpox  Variolation was commonly practised in the 16 th century, in which
people were infected by minor, and remarkably less deadly, strain of
virus, which if successful provided lasting immunity against smallpox.

 Existing Vaccines: ACAM2000, Dryvax.

 Treatment drugs: tecovirimat, brincidofovir

 From 1958 to 1977, the 

World Health Organization conducted a global
vaccination campaign that eradicated smallpox,
making it the only human disease to be
 Here’s a short video that discusses the various origins of
inoculation of small pox in the broader context of human history,
disease eradication, shared discoveries and shared immunity:

Immunity and
Inoculation
Thank you for listening!