Smallpox

AN ACUTE, INFECTIOUS AND OFTEN FATAL DISEASE CAUSED BY THE VARIOLA VIRUS SMALLPOX This ancient disease probably emerged in Egypt or India about 3,000 years ago, and was one of the most devastating and feared diseases in human history. 1157 BC 1763 屬 娜 媽 蟹 Pharaoh Ramses V dies in Egypt. In 1979, researchers discovered lesions consistent with smallpox on his In an early case of bioterror, British Gen. Joseph Amherst delivers smallpox-tainted body, the earliest human evidence of the disease. blankets to Delaware Indians in Pennsylvania. OVER THE CENTURIES, SMALLPOX STRUCK WITH VERY LITTLE REGARD FOR CLASS, STATUS OR LOCATION, CLAIMING THE LIVES OF AT LEAST SIX EUROPEAN MONARCHS, AND EXACTING A PARTICULARLY HEAVY TOLL ON CHILDREN. As European explorers pushed across the oceansı they introduced smallpox to new com munities that had no natural immunity – with devastating consequences. (O 1796 English physician Edward Jenner showed that inoculation with cowpox-a similar, but less harmful virus-could protect against smallpox infection. This discovery was the first indication that the spread of smallpox could be controlled. 1950S: 50 MILLION CASES OF SMALLPOX 1950 1967 The WHO reports there were an The WHO intensified a coordinated global eradication campaign aimed at stamping out smallpox once and for all. estimated 50 million cases of smallpox around the world for the decade. TODAY: ERADICATED 1977 The last naturally-occurring case of smallpox was found in Somalia in 1977. 1980 The World Health Organization declared that the disease had been erased from the planet. Bioterror experts are concerned that smallpox could be used as a particularly lethal weapon in a terror attack, since the successful eradication campaign meant the end of widespread vaccination, leaving most humans vulnerable to the virus. • RAISED BUMPS • • AIR TRANSMISSION • • SECURE LABS • After exposure, a person will Smallpox can be transmitted Today, the only place on the planet start exhibiting typical flu-like through the air, much like the where you can still find smallpox symptoms, such as fever and body common cold. It can also be is in two government-run secure spread through contaminated bed linens and clothing, as well aches, as well as nausea. A rash wil storage labs in the U.S. and Russia. then appear which eventually Governments have been fighting develops into raised bumps filled as bodily fluids. Because smallpox for decades over whether to with a thick, opaque fluid-the is highly contagious, victims must destroy these remaining samples hallmark of smallpox infection, and be completely isolated once and countinue to kick the can the source of its name. they show symptoms. further down the road. THE NUMBERS NO TREATMENT FOR SMALLPOX HAS EVER BEEN FOUND 30% IT KILLED AS MANY AS OF THOSE INFECTED TakePart SOURCES: CDC, WHO, PBS, Washington Post, “House on Fire," by William Foege TAKEPART.COM/CONTAGION