The Briefing Room

General Category => Health/Education => Topic started by: rangerrebew on December 14, 2017, 03:08:40 pm

Title: What is Smallpox?
Post by: rangerrebew on December 14, 2017, 03:08:40 pm
What is Smallpox?

By Dr Tomislav Meštrović, MD, PhD

Smallpox is an acute contagious viral disease that has a relatively high fatality rate in immunologically naive populations. It is caused by variola virus, which is a member of a larger pox family of viruses. Smallpox can manifest itself in two clinical forms (variola major and variola minor) and it can be transmitted from person to person. There is no specific treatment for this disease other than the management of symptoms.

It is believed that smallpox originated 10 thousand years B.C. in Africa and subsequently spread to India and Egypt. Due to its high mortality rate, outbreaks of this disease had a significant impact on the course of history. During the twentieth century alone, smallpox is estimated to have caused over 500 million human deaths around the world.

https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Smallpox.aspx (https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Smallpox.aspx)
Title: Re: What is Smallpox?
Post by: catfish1957 on December 14, 2017, 03:15:04 pm
What is Smallpox?


If I remember correctly, the only known cultures that exist are at the CDC in Atlanta.

If youngsters check old folks like myself closely, you'll see about a 1 cm circle on our shoulders with little dots in it.   That was the Smallpox vaccine that was given to us as children,
Title: Re: What is Smallpox?
Post by: thackney on December 14, 2017, 03:50:36 pm
If I remember correctly, the only known cultures that exist are at the CDC in Atlanta.

If youngsters check old folks like myself closely, you'll see about a 1 cm circle on our shoulders with little dots in it.   That was the Smallpox vaccine that was given to us as children,

...There are now only two locations where variola virus is officially stored and handled under WHO supervision: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, and the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology (VECTOR Institute) in Koltsovo, Russia....

https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/history/history.html (https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/history/history.html)
Title: Re: What is Smallpox?
Post by: Frank Cannon on December 14, 2017, 03:52:55 pm
What is Smallpox?

Bigpox's lazy kid.