Small Pox disease , symptoms of small pox ,Treatment and Vaccination of small pox and current location of Small pox.

 Small Pox

One of the most deadly illnesses known to mankind is smallpox, which is thought to have its origins more than 3,000 years ago in India or Egypt. King Louis XV of France, Queen Ulrika Elenora of Sweden, Tsar Peter II of Russia, Queen Mary II of England, Emperor Joseph I of Austria, King Luis I of Spain, and King Louis I of England all perished from smallpox.

The causal agent, Variola virus, belongs to the family Poxviridae, subfamily Chordopoxvirinae of the genus Orthopoxvirus. Cowpox, Camelopox, and Monkeypox are additional members of the genus; the latter has been responsible for the most severe recent human poxvirus infections.

The double-stranded DNA molecule in the 260 by 150 nanometer Variola virus codes for about 200 distinct proteins. It has one of the biggest viral genomes yet discovered, making it very challenging to produce a synthetic duplicate of the virus.

The most severe and prevalent form of smallpox, with a more extensive rash and higher fever, is caused by Variolamajor, one of the two types of smallpox virus. There are four strains of Variola major: the conventional type, which accounts for 90% or more of cases; the mild modified type; the flat type; and the hemorrhagic variant, which is uncommon but extremely severe and lethal. The overall fatality rate for Variola major has historically been around 30%. Smallpox caused by Variola minor is less prevalent, far less severe, and has a mortality rate of less than 1%.

Following a successful global vaccination campaign, the smallpox disease has now been eradicated. In the United States, smallpox was last reported in 1949. In 1977, Somalia saw the last naturally occurring instance in the entire world.

Transmission

Direct contact with diseased body fluids or contaminated items like beds or clothing can spread smallpox. After being exposed to the virus, there is an incubation phase during which time individuals may not exhibit any symptoms and may even feel healthy. This can last anywhere from 7 and 17 days, with an average of 12 to 14 days. People are not contagious at this time.

Symptoms

Smallpox's initial signs and symptoms include fever, malaise, headaches, body aches, and occasionally vomiting. Typically, a fever of 101 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit is present. People are typically too ill at this point to engage in their regular activities. The prodrome phase may extend for two to four days during this time. Small red dots on the tongue and mouth are the earliest signs of a rash. Red spots later develop into sores that erupt and release a significant amount of virus into the mouth and throat. The person is at their most contagious at this point. The skin then develops rashes, which first show on the face before moving to the arms, legs, hands, and feet. Typically, the rashes cover the entire body in 24 hours. The person may begin to feel better when the rashes start to emerge and the fever often drops. The rashes raise into bumps by the third day. By the fourth day, the bumps develop a button-like depression in the center and are filled with a thick, opaque fluid. At this point, fever frequently returns and stays high until scabs cover the lumps. The lumps develop into sharply elevated, often rounded, and firm to the touch pustules. The pustules start to crust over before becoming scabs.

Most of the lesions have scabbed over by the end of the second week after the rashes first emerge. The scabs ultimately start to peel off, leaving behind skin blemishes that eventually develop into pitted scars. By the fourth week after the rashes start, the majority of scabs are gone. Up until the time when all of the scabs have gone off, the illness is spreadable to others.

Insects do not contribute to the spread of the disease and there is no animal reservoir for it.

In the past, smallpox and chickenpox—a kid virus that rarely results in death—were occasionally mistaken. By having significantly more superficial lesions, appearing more on the trunk than the face and extremities, and appearing in successive crops in the same area, chickenpox can be separated from smallpox.

Treatment

Up to 30% of those afflicted died from the illness, for which there is no known cure. Between 65 and 80 percent of those who survived had extensive pitted scars or pockmarks, the majority of which are noticeable on the face.

The earliest signs of hope for the disease's control appeared with Edward Jenner's (1798) discovery that cowpox vaccination could provide protection against smallpox.

Smallpox was finally contained to Africa and then to a solitary remaining natural case that occurred in Somalia in 1977 thanks to the effectiveness of the global eradication programme. In 1978, there was a fatal laboratory-acquired case in the United Kingdom. A group of distinguished scientists declared the smallpox to be eradicated worldwide in December 1979 after extensive verification efforts in numerous nations, and the World Health Assembly subsequently supported the declaration in 1980. The vaccination, given up to 4 days after virus contact and prior to the onset of the rash, offers protective immunity and lessens the severity of the illness.

Other than managing symptoms, there is currently no effective treatment. Several substances are being looked into as chemotherapic agents. In lab tests, one of them, cidofovir, showed encouraging results.

Since October 26, 1977, when an unvaccinated hospital cook in Somalia became the last person to have naturally infected the smallpox virus, no naturally occurring instance of this lethal disease has occurred thanks to the success of a vigorous global public health effort.

In 1980, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared smallpox to be extinct.

Vaccines

By immunising a small kid with tissue from a milkmaid who had the milder cowpox virus, Edward Jenner tested his notion of disease protection in 1796. Due to the experiment's effectiveness, a smallpox vaccine—named vacca after the Latin word for cow—was created.

Live Vaccinia virus, a member of the orthopoxvirus family and a close relative of Variola virus, the pathogen responsible for smallpox, is included in the smallpox vaccination. Smallpox immunity is provided by vaccination with the Vaccinia virus. Smallpox infection is typically prevented by vaccination for at least 10 years.

The majority of currently available vaccine stocks and the vaccine used in the WHO eradication campaign are made of pulp that has been scraped from Vaccinia-infected animal skin, primarily that of calves or sheep, and to which phenol has been added in concentrations high enough to kill bacteria but low enough to prevent the Vaccinia virus from becoming inactive. The vaccine is then freeze dried and placed in ampules before being re-dissolved in sterile buffer and administered via repeated punctures with a bifurcated needle for intradermal inoculation.

Current Location Of Smallpox

The State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology in Koltsovo, Russia, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, are the only two laboratories known to contain smallpox virus. The WHO Collaborating Centre for Smallpox Vaccine in Bilthoven, the Netherlands, is keeping the seed virus (Vaccinia virus strain Lister Elstree) used to make vaccines.

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