Smallpox Essay

Smallpox is a highly infectious disease caused by the variola virus, an orthopoxvirus. Humans are the only known reservoir of this virus, thus no known animal or insect reservoirs have been identified. As routine vaccination is no longer undertaken, exposure to variola virus has the potential to cause high rates of morbidity and mortality in human population.

Following an incubation period, infected individuals manifest with prodromal symptoms that include high fever, malaise, back pain and prostration. The eruptive stage is characterized by maculopapular rash that progresses to papules, then vesicles, and finally pustules and scab lesions. Prognosis can vary according to the disease type and patient status.

Disease prognosis

Mortality
Still, it must be noted that all experience with smallpox predated the advent of modern critical care medicine, thus mortality would conceivably be lower than in the past.

Treatment of smallpox

Throughout history, management of smallpox was strictly supportive. No effective treatment for smallpox had been found by the time of eradication and there is no treatment approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for orthopoxviruses. Antimicrobial agents were used if smallpox lesions got infected, or if the eruption was very dense and widespread.

The appropriate care and management of smallpox patients requires hospitalization. Today, any suspect case of smallpox should be managed in a negative-pressure room and the patient should be vaccinated, particularly if the illness is in an early stage. Strict airborne and contact isolation precautions should be followed.

The patient should be isolated until all scabs have fallen off in order to prevent transmission of variola virus to nonimmune individuals. As substantial amounts of fluid and protein can be lost by febrile individuals with pox lesions, patients require appropriate hydration and