What happens if you pop a smallpox

In , the disease was declared eradicated following worldwide vaccination programs. However, in the aftermath of the events of September and October, , New York State, along with other states, and the U. As a result of these efforts: 1 There is a detailed nationwide smallpox preparedness program to protect Americans against smallpox as a biological weapon. This program includes the creation of preparedness teams that are ready to respond to a smallpox attack on the United States.

Members of these teams - health care and public health workers - are being vaccinated so that they might safely protect others in the event of a smallpox outbreak. The deliberate release of smallpox as an epidemic disease is now regarded as a possibility, and the United States is taking precautions to deal with this possibility.

Category A agents are those that pose the greatest potential threat for adverse public health impact and have a moderate to high potential for large-scale dissemination. The public is generally more aware of category A agents, and broad-based public health preparedness efforts are underway. Other Category A agents are anthrax, plague, botulism, tularemia, and viral hemorrhagic fevers. At the moment, the smallpox vaccine is not available for members of the general public.

In the event of a smallpox outbreak, however, there is enough smallpox vaccine to vaccinate everyone who would need it. The symptoms of smallpox begin with high fever, head and body aches, and sometimes vomiting. A rash follows that spreads and progresses to raised bumps and pus-filled blisters that crust, scab, and fall off after about three weeks, leaving a pitted scar.

After exposure, it takes between 7 and 17 days for symptoms of smallpox to appear average incubation time is 12 to 14 days. During this time, the infected person feels fine and is not contagious. Smallpox normally spreads from contact with infected persons.

Generally, direct and fairly prolonged face-to-face contact is required to spread smallpox from one person to another. Smallpox also can be spread through direct contact with infected bodily fluids or contaminated objects such as bedding or clothing.

Indirect contact is not common. Rarely, smallpox has been spread by virus carried in the air in enclosed settings such as buildings, buses, and trains. Smallpox is not known to be transmitted by insects or animals.

A person with smallpox is sometimes contagious with onset of fever prodrome phase , but the person becomes most contagious with the onset of rash. Patients remain infectious until the last scab falls off. Smallpox can be prevented through use of the smallpox vaccine, even if the vaccine is given within three days after exposure to smallpox. There is no proven treatment for smallpox, but research to evaluate new antiviral agents is ongoing.

Preliminary results with the drug, cidofovir suggest it may be useful. The use of cidofovir to treat smallpox or smallpox vaccine reactions should be evaluated and monitored by experts at NIH and CDC. Patients with smallpox can benefit from supportive therapy e.

The smallpox vaccine is the only way to prevent smallpox. The vaccine is made from a virus called vaccinia, which is another pox-type virus related to smallpox.

The vaccine helps the body develop immunity to smallpox. It was successfully used to eradicate smallpox from the human population. Routine vaccination of the American public against smallpox stopped in after the disease was eradicated in the United States. Until recently, the U. It is easy to forget how difficult a job this was. Even though the Cold War was raging on, the efforts required the United States and Soviet Union and their respective allies to cooperate.

Many countries had broken healthcare systems and political strife. Henderson had to skillfully navigate through these as well as overt wars and massive amounts of bureaucracy to keep the program moving toward its targets. Such public health leadership required a combination of scientific expertise, leadership, deft negotiating skills and tremendous dedication. After his work with smallpox was done, he served as Dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health from to and subsequently advised multiple U.

Michael J. Klag , current Dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, called Henderson "a giant in public health", described smallpox eradication as "one of the greatest public health achievements in history" and indicated that "D. Public health has lost a hero, and we have lost a great friend and colleague. With global warming yes, yes, yes, it exists , Russia is the fastest-warming part of the world, The steady rise in temperatures may release infectious diseases from their frozen tombs.

If you need further proof of how massive an achievement smallpox eradication was, be careful what you wish for, because there are concerns that smallpox could make a comeback. With global warming yes, yes, yes, it exists , locations such as in Siberia that have been previously covered in ice are now melting. The Siberia Times reports that the melting is now exposing animal and human corpses that were previously packed in ice.

Some of these corpses contained anthrax that has since infected at least 24 people, who had to be hospitalized in Salekhard, situated at the Arctic Circle.

Besides being the name of a heavy metal group, anthrax is a potentially lethal infectious disease pathogen that can be be used for bioterrorism. The potential risks of the vaccine outweigh the benefits, in the absence of an actual smallpox outbreak.

A second vaccine, a modified vaccinia Ankara vaccine Jynneos , has been found to be safe, and it can be used in people who aren't able to take ACAM, who have weakened immune systems or who have skin disorders. Immunity or partial immunity after a smallpox vaccine may last up to 10 years, and 20 years with revaccination. If an outbreak ever occurred, people who were vaccinated as children would still likely receive a new vaccination after direct exposure to someone with the virus.

Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. This content does not have an English version. This content does not have an Arabic version. Overview Smallpox is a contagious, disfiguring and often deadly disease that has affected humans for thousands of years. Smallpox Open pop-up dialog box Close. Smallpox These are smallpox lesions on the skin of the trunk. Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic.

Share on: Facebook Twitter. Show references Friedman HM, et al. The epidemiology, pathogenesis and clinical manifestations of smallpox. However, the consequences of such an attack - if it did occur - would be very serious. The symptoms of smallpox begin with a high fever, head and body aches and, in some cases, vomiting.

After two to four days, a rash appears. The rash spreads, and develops into raised bumps that crust and scab over. After about three weeks, the scabs fall off, leaving pitted scars. The first symptoms of smallpox usually show up about days after a person has been exposed to the illness, although symptoms can take as little as seven days or as long as 17 days to appear. Once the first symptoms appear, the patient is usually too ill to travel or engage in most forms of activity.

The patient doesn't become infectious - capable to transmitting the disease to others - until the rash appears. Smallpox is contagious, but it's spread less easily than illnesses like influenza or measles. Generally, it takes prolonged, face-to-face contact - of the kind that takes place in a household setting - to spread the disease from one person to another.