There is no cure for the smallpox virus. As a result of worldwide, repeated vaccination programs, the variola virus smallpox has been completely eradicated. The only people considered to be at risk for smallpox are researchers who work with it in a laboratory setting. In the unlikely event that an exposure to the smallpox virus occurs, vaccination within one to three days can keep the illness from being so severe. In addition, antibiotics can help to reduce the bacterial infections associated with the virus.
The smallpox scar is small, round, and lower than the skin around it. What causes your acid reflux can be very individual and hard to pin down. Learn how to drink alcohol without getting that familiar burning feeling. When it comes to lemon water for acid reflux, the views are mixed. Does it help? Here's what you need to know.
Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Medically reviewed by Debra Sullivan, Ph. What Are the Symptoms of Smallpox? Smallpox disease is caused by a virus. Drugs that fight diseases caused by viruses are called antiviral drugs. Some antivirals that may help to treat smallpox or prevent it from getting worse include tecovirimat, cidofovir, and brincidofovir. However, these drugs have not been tested in people sick with smallpox, so it is not known if a person with smallpox will benefit from treatment with any one of them.
CDC is working with collaborators to find new and existing drugs that can reduce the harmful effects of variola virus. Then, they find out how the drug stops infection from happening. What they learn can help us understand how to stop variola viruses from spreading and to design better drugs to treat these viruses.
CDC also is collaborating with vaccine manufacturers to make new, safer vaccines and determine how well they work. Since these safer vaccines have never been used in an area with widespread smallpox disease, scientists cannot directly study their ability to prevent smallpox. 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. It can also be spread through direct contact with body fluids, or objects like bedding and clothing. It can also be spread through the air in buildings or other enclosed spaces, although that happens less commonly. There is currently no proven treatment for smallpox.
However, it can be prevented through vaccination. The vaccine can still protect people even after they've already been exposed to the smallpox virus. Vaccinating within seven days will tend to lessen the severity of any illness resulting from exposure to smallpox. However, the vaccine can cause serious, potentially fatal reactions in some people, so the benefits of vaccination need to be balanced against the risks.
To put that in perspective the city of Rome was founded just shy of 3, years ago in BC. The last natural case of smallpox occurred in Somalia in , and since then there have only ever been accidental exposures to smallpox in a laboratory setting. Until its eradication in , smallpox was "one of the world's most feared diseases," and rightly so. Smallpox derives its name from the raised bumps it causes on the body of an infected person. A few days after the initial infection, the bumps develop into fluid-filled lesions and then into painful, pus-filled ones.
Scabs form over the lesions leaving survivors with pitted scars. The process of eradicating smallpox was long and complicated, requiring the coordinated efforts of people around the globe. Not every disease can be eradicated; it just so happened that smallpox has many characteristics that lend ease to eradication.
The incubation period, the time between initial infection and visible symptoms, is relatively short, which prevents the disease from spreading undetected. The symptoms are also very distinctive, allowing for easy identification of smallpox patients. The World Health Organization put in place a "ring vaccination" method whereby vaccines weren't given only to infected people, but also to anyone who may have been exposed to an infected person. In remote areas, World Health Organization workers tracked down infected persons by showing locals pictures of people with smallpox symptoms and asking if they had seen anyone with them.
Luckily for humans, smallpox only infects us. The lack of of an animal reservoir really aided in eradicating the disease. A large number of diseases affecting humans can be caught and transmitted by other species.
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