VARIOLA VIRUS

VARIOLA VIRUS

Overview and Facts

Smallpox, an infectious, debilitating, and fatal disease, has long affected humans for thousands of years. However, due to the result of an unprecedented worldwide vaccination campaign,  smallpox was eradicated globally by the year 1980. Smallpox is caused by the variola virus.

The smallpox virus today is kept and isolated for research purposes only. The use of smallpox as a biological warfare agent has raised some eyebrows of certain human rights groups.

Until now, there is still no cure for smallpox that exists. However, as the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” The only treatment is prevention through vaccination of children who are at risk of getting smallpox.

Types and Symptoms

SYMPTOMS

Symptoms of smallpox usually begin to manifest within 10 to 14 days after infection. During the incubation period of smallpox, you will feel normal. You will have no symptoms and will not have the ability to transmit the infection to other people. The symptoms of smallpox include:

  • Fever
  • Vomiting
  • Overall discomfort
  • Severe back pain
  • Headache
  • Severe fatigue

A few days after the incubation period, red spots will begin to appear on your face, forearms, and trunk, respectively. The lesions on the said body parts will then form into blisters that will fill with pus. Scabs will then form eight to nine days later and they will eventually turn into scars.

Lesions in your mucous membranes will also begin to rupture and turn into open sores. Sores are entry points for secondary bacterial infections.

Diagnosis & Medications

DIAGNOSIS

The diagnosis of a smallpox outbreak today would confuse some doctors as the disease was eradicated years ago. However, once the characteristic symptoms become evident, doctors would take a tissue sample from one of the lesions in the skin and do definitive testing.

TREATMENT

There is no cure for smallpox until now. However, the treatment is supportive. That means that doctors only treat the symptoms and complications that arise from smallpox to relieve the patient from those symptoms. Antibiotics may be prescribed for secondary bacterial infections that arise either from the lesions or pneumonia in the lungs. Also, intravenous fluids are administered to prevent dehydration of the patient due to the infection.

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