One of the most devastating diseases known to humanity, which killed millions of people every year, before it was eradicated (eliminated from the world), is Smallpox. It was an infectious disease caused by one of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. Fortunately, there are no cases reported anywhere in the world today. The last naturally occurring case of smallpox was reported in 1977. In 1980, the World Health Organization declared that smallpox had been eradicated. This was the first and only time in history that an infectious disease was eliminated from the Earth.
In this lesson, we are going to learn about the disease of Smallpox.
Smallpox was a really bad disease caused by a virus, and it was contagious or spreading from one infected person to another. People who had smallpox had a fever and a distinctive, progressive skin rash, as well as other symptoms like headaches, back pain, abdominal pain, vomiting, and other symptoms. The rash was like red bumps that gradually fill with a milky fluid. The fluid-filled bumps were all in the same stage at the same time.
On average, 3 out of every 10 people who got this disease died. People who survived usually had scars from the rash and the blisters, and sometimes the scars were really bad.
It is believed that smallpox has existed for at least 3,000 years, because of the finding of smallpox-like rashes on Egyptian mummies.
When mentioning fever and rash, people might be thinking that Smallpox and Chickenpox are the same diseases. It is because they both cause rashes and blisters. But, actually, they are entirely different diseases, and chickenpox (also called varicella) still naturally exists in the world.
Smallpox infection survivors are known to have lifelong protection from reinfection.
Smallpox spreading was from direct contact with infected persons. Generally, direct and relatively prolonged face-to-face contact was required to spread smallpox from one person to another. It was also spread through direct contact with infected bodily fluids or contaminated objects such as bedding or clothing.
To control and stop this deadly disease, people were using different methods, some of which were really helpful. One method for controlling was a method called Variolation. The process was named after the Variola virus, the one that causes smallpox. During variolation, people who had never had smallpox were exposed to material from smallpox sores (pustules) by scratching the material into their arm or inhaling it through the nose. After this, people usually developed the symptoms associated with smallpox, usually rash and fever.
Then came the vaccination.
The basis for vaccination began in 1796. At that time, the English doctor Edward Jenner noticed that milkmaids who had gotten cowpox were protected from smallpox. Because he knew about variolation, he guessed that exposure to cowpox could be used to protect against smallpox. To test his theory, Dr. Jenner took material from a cowpox sore on milkmaid Sarah Nelmes’ hand and inoculated it into the arm of James Phipps, the 9-year-old son of Jenner’s gardener. Months later, Jenner exposed Phipps several times to the variola virus, but he never developed smallpox.
Vaccination became widely accepted. Next, it gradually replaced the practice of variolation. At some point in the 1800s, the virus used to make the smallpox vaccine changed from cowpox to vaccinia virus.
With many following efforts and campaigns in the world, the disease was eradicated, almost two centuries after the beginning of the vaccination.
