Smallpox was the most serious poxvirus disease in humans, caused by Variola virus (VARV). It was spread by inhalational exposure of oral, nasal or pharyngeal droplets that contained the virus and initially caused influenza like symptoms such as fever of at least 38.3°C, muscle pain, malaise, headache and prostration. After 10-14 days incubation the classic poxvirus rash would appear on the face, all four limbs, mucous membranes of the mouth, tongue, palate and throat. When visible lesions first observed, temperature falls to near normal, and the lesions rapidly enlarged and ruptured, developing from macules to papules and eventually pustules that dried up and crusted over by 14 to 16 days if the patient survived. By day 16-20, scabs would form
In document four we see evidence of a smallpox breakout through an illustration of native americans with spots covering their bodies.
Boston Smallpox Epidemic of 1721: When smallpox broke out in Boston, Cotton Mather introduced an untested medical procedure called “inoculation”, which would introduce a small amount of the virus to a patient, in hoping they would become immune to it. Many were opposed to it, even though it worked. Many people died due to the epidemic. 31. Common Sense: Thomas Paine wrote a book called "Common Sense", it sold more than 150,000 copies when the population was only 3 million.
In the book, Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82 by Elizabeth Fenn (2001), depicts the casualty of one of the deadliest virus in mankind -- the smallpox during the American War of Independence and how it shaped the course of the war and the lives of everyone in the North America. Smallpox is a highly contagious disease caused by an Orthopoxvirus known as variola major virus. Spread by direct transmission, the disease produces high fever, headache, excruciating back pain, anxiety, general malaise, blindness at times, and the most distinctive of all, blistering rashes that can leave deep-pitted scars. Its spread could be attributed through human civilizations, voyaging, expansion of trade routes. The European colonizers brought
Elizabeth A. Fenn, Pox Americana: the great smallpox epidemic of 1775-82, (New York: Hill and Wang, 2001). Pages, ix, 384, index, bibliography. Review by Samantha Pilcher. Elizabeth A. Fenn is the author of Pox Americana.
A virus that spread easily and could be deadly when not treated. In the Age of Exploration time period they didn’t have the technology like we have today to cure such a disease. In documents 2a-b the first part is a statement talking about how the Natives and Africans rarely got sick, its says “ There was no sickness; they had no aching bones; they had then no high fever; they had then no smallpox.” This is showing how before the Europeans all of the diseases and the sicknesses that came with them never occurred in the Natives life. In the document the second portion that follows says, “ There was great havoc.
Early Europeans and Cortes had brought over smallpox, which is an airborne virus that causes fever, vomiting, and blisters that cover your body in fluid. One in three people die from smallpox, making it a very deadly disease. Europeans had been exposed to smallpox and had built immunities against it, but the Aztecs' immune systems had never experienced such a virus, making them especially vulnerable to the disease. The Aztec population was reduced to 60% of its original numbers in a span of one year. "Mayan and Incan civilizations were also nearly wiped out by smallpox..., reducing some indigenous populations in the new world by 90 percent or more."
Insects have been biting and sucking the blood of humans and animals throughout history. Plague swept through early civilizations, killing millions of people. The Black Death was a plague pandemic that swept through Asia and Europe, killing possibly as many as 25 million people. It wasn't until the late 1800s that researchers figured out what caused this horrible disease that kept reappearing throughout history. They discovered that rats were also getting sick from the plague, and that infected people had fleabites from rats.
The CDC has determined “smallpox is an acute, contagious, and sometimes fatal disease caused by variola virus” (question and answers about smallpox disease). Smallpox has been around for thousands of years. The cause of Smallpox is Variola. Since Smallpox is from Variola it is from Orthopoxvirus. The last outbreak has not occurred recently.
The Spanish brought smallpox, influenza, measles and a host of other bacteria with them. In the series Guns, Germs, and Steel, the origin of smallpox coming to the Americas is traced back to a slave traveling on a ship to Mexico twelve years before Pizarro reached Carhamarka. The slave was the first to bring small pox to the Americas and within weeks the disease would go on the infect thousands of Natives. This supposedly started the spread of small pox, a pestilence that spreads exponentially. The outbreak reached the Incan empire before Pizarro came.
Writers from the History webpage claim, “Famous early American Cotton Mather described it as ‘turning yellow then vomiting and bleeding every way.” The only way individuals during the Antebellum era knew that people had been infected was by their symptom, and based upon the symptoms they would experiment until they found a cure. Lastly, Smallpox during the 1990’s was used as a defense mechanism in the
Smallpox, or Variola major, is a deadly viral disease . The virus is shaped like brick covered in small spikes, and has been infecting humans for thousands of years. Smallpox even affected the course of the Revolutionary War. The disease had been killing many of George Washington’s men, and only when he had them protected from smallpox, could the Americans keep fighting for freedom. Smallpox has a very riveting history.
Smallpox continued to be a problem throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, affecting populations on a large scale.” It was one of the primary annihilator’s of the native indigenous population of the Americas during the first arrivals of the Europeans who brought it with them. One notable incident which many believe led to a severe outbreak of the smallpox amongst various Indian tribes in the Ohio Valley in 1763 was the case of the British Army giving away blankets from a pox hospital with the hopes of passing the disease onto the Indians they were fighting. Gill (2004) shares purported correspondence between two British officers with the following:
Slide 1- Introduction Good morning/afternoon everybody, today I have been assigned with informing you all about the Aztecs, or more importantly, the reason for their annihilation. Now you may be thinking that it was mainly to do with a war, but it is actually almost solely a disease called the variola disease or as it’s more commonly known, small-pox Slide 2-What were the symptoms and effects Now you may be wondering what made the disease so dangerous to the Aztecs. The main problem of the disease was the fact that not only did it kill 3/10 people effected it also severely lowered the victims fighting capabilities meaning that when the Spanish attempted to fight the Aztecs, it became much more favourable to the Aztecs. (Healthline, n.d.)
Human monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease caused by the monkeypox virus (MPXV), a member of the genus Orthopoxvirus (family Poxviridae, subfamily Chordopoxvirinae), that occurs mostly in the rain forests of central and western Africa. People living in or near the forested areas may have indirect or low-level exposure, possibly leading to subclinical infection. However, the disease recently emerged in the United States in imported wild rodents from Africa. Monkeypox has a clinical presentation very similar to that of ordinary forms of smallpox, including flulike symptoms, fever, malaise, back pain, headache, and characteristic rash. Given this clinical spectrum, differential diagnosis to rule out smallpox is very important.
Needless to say that it is very necessary for scientists and experts to know what causes chickenpox and what dreadful effects that may occur in order to get suitable ways to treat it. They exert their utmost efforts and try all possible ways to identify its reasons. Actually, Chickenpox (varicella) is an infectious illness that causes an itchy rash and red spots in the whole body. As a matter of fact, scientists affirm that Chickenpox can cause terrible problems for pregnant women, infants, teens and adults, and people who suffer from immune system problems that make it difficult for the body to resist infection. Its severity lies in the fact that any person who suffers from chickenpox can spread the virus quickly and easily even before he or she has any signs or symptoms(1).