One of the most devastating diseases to ever strike civilization is smallpox. It is an infection that is highly contagious or easily spread from person to person.
The scientific name of the virus is Variola. Smallpox virus is shaped like a brick and covered with little spiky bits. In smallpox virus, there are a hundred different proteins protecting a strand of DNA combating 187 genes.
The smallpox virus comes in two types: the deadly Variola major and a less dangerous virus called Variola minor. About 30 percent of those who contracted Variola major died.
Smallpox spreads from human to human through the air via breathing, sneezing or coughing.
People who got small pox had tiny little bumps all over their bodies.
The virus can also be spread though contact with an infected personal bodily fluids or by touching items that person has contaminated.
The virus disseminates through the body via the lymph and blood, At this point in the infections process, few symptoms of disease are apparent and patients generally fell well.
People with smallpox were moist infectious from the onset of their papulor rash through the first 7 to 10 days of the rash.
Approximately 30 percent of susceptible in contacts come down with the disease. As scabs formed, respiratory infectivity waned, but patients were considered infectious until all scabs separated.
Smallpox
