Virologie & Mycologie
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Smallpox: the Infection and the Arms

Farhana Tarannum

Essentially, when smallpox first affected humans, it is difficult to tell, although research suggests that it may have first appeared during the Neolithic Period. The first credible evidence of smallpox contamination is provided by the mummified remains of Egyptians, specifically Pharaoh Ramses V (d. 1157BC). Smallpox was deeply established in Asia in the 6th century AD. The Crusades and Asia's increasing trade spread the disease to Europe. The Europeans took the disease to the New World from there, and by the middle of the 18th century, with the exception of Australia, the disease was widespread almost anywhere in the world. In the late 18th century, Jenner produced the first smallpox vaccine. He used the pus from cowpox lesions to produce the vaccine, noticing that milkmaids who contracted cowpox (a similar relative to smallpox) developed immunity to the disease. About a century and a half since, a global vaccine campaign was launched by the World Health Organization (WHO). The initiative was successful and the last naturally occurring case of smallpox recorded was in 1977. In 1980, WHO formally declared the disease eradicated. There are currently only two official virus libraries, one at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, and the other at the Russian State Virology and Biotechnology Research Center in Koltsovo. The Variola virus belongs to the Poxviridae family, the Chordopoxvirinae subfamily, and the Orthopoxvirus class, including vaccinia, monkeypox virus, and many other serologically cross-reactive animal poxviruses.[1] Smallpox affects people of all ages, but in young people and older people, it has the highest death rates. Transmission happens mostly via the respiratory tract (from secretions of the nose and mouth) and infection can occur from as little as ten viral particles.[2,3] The death rate of untreated persons with naturally occurring cases is between 20 % and 50 % Viremia, toxaemia, disseminated intravascular coagulation, hypotension, or coronary collapse are typically the result of death.