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by Keith T. Carlson Small pox is only transmitted between humans. It is spread by "droplet infection" (i.e., a sneeze) requiring close physical proximity between donor and recipient. It may also spread by actual physical contact with an infected individual, or a corpse up to three weeks after death, or through fomities, (i.e., infected clothes or blankets) which remain infectious for up to a year. An incubation period of approximately ten days usually follows entry of the small pox virus into the respiratory tract. During this period a person feels no ill effects and is not infectious. A two day period follows in which a patient experiences fever, headache and general discomfort, succeeded by a rash in two weeks. Red spots then appear on the face and extremities, and spread to the rest of the body. The spots eventually develop into "papules" or raised lesions which then become "vesicles" (like blisters) and finally "pustules" upon which scabs form. Those who survive to this point may expect the scab to fall off and be replaced by a deep scar or "pockmark". Occasionally, an unlucky patient will develop the "pox" on the inside of the mouth and throat. Throughout this entire process and until the scab falls off, the person is infectious. Fever will last throughout the course of the disease, and an intense itching and odor appear by the pustular stage. From infection to recovery, or death, takes one month. In the worst cases the lesions blend together and entire sections of skin may "slough off". As mentioned the minimum fatality rate is approximately 33%, and the disease is frequently accompanied by pneumonia and pleurisy, encephalitis, blindness, boils and abscesses. Even with modern medicine once a person has been infected nothing can be done to arrest or alleviate small pox. One hundred per cent of those exposed to the disease will contract it if they are not immunized. Source: Boyd, Robert. The Introduction of Infectious Diseases Among the Indians of the Pacific North West. (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation.) University of Washington. Seattle, Washington. Digitized with permission from:
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