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Smallpox:

Its Homeopathic and
Conventional Management
- from Chapter 12

Smallpox is one of the most devastating infectious diseases known to Man, claiming a 30% fatality rate in the absence of immunization. The diagnosis of even a single case of smallpox is to be viewed as an international health emergency.

Worldwide, smallpox was officially eradicated by 1977, thanks to the immunization program. Alleged to be the last, the limited stocks of smallpox that remained in the U.S. and Russia were to be destroyed by June 30, 2002. This, however, has yet to take place.

Meanwhile, Iraq and other countries capable of bioterrorism are believed to own it as a bioweapon. According to the author Richard Preston, smallpox, among other potential biological agents, can be easily altered, thereby defeating the existing vaccine and turned into "the biological equivalent of an atomic bomb."

Smallpox is caused by the Variola virus and is contracted primarily via the respiratory pathways, by inhaling droplets from an infected person or through inhalation of suspended particles. These particles may remain in the area for some time and can even be carried by indoor ventilation or airflow from area to area.

The virus also can be contracted through contact with contaminated bedding or clothing if they were subjected to open smallpox lesions. The incubation period (the time from the beginning of exposure to the onset of symptoms) is between 7 and 17 days, with 12 to 14 days being the average.

The most contagious stage begins with the outbreak of the skin or mouth lesions. If a person who has not been vaccinated within 25 years or so was in contact with an alleged source of the virus develops a fever of at least 101°F (38°C) for no apparent reasons within 17 days following the presumed contact, he or she is to be assumed to have smallpox.

The natural history of the disease consists of several stages. It usually begins with symptoms of high fever, between 102°F and 106°F, headaches, generalized muscle pains particularly affecting the back area, abdominal discomfort, occasional vomiting, and a transient, blotchy red rash.

After several days these initial symptoms subside and the actual smallpox lesions begin to appear as painful mouth sores progressing to lesions on the face and forearms. The lesions look like flat spots, and are firm to the touch. They multiply and spread rapidly to the trunk and lower extremities.

Three to four days after their first appearance, these flat spots turn into vesicles - bumps raised over the skin surface and filled with clear fluid. Shortly thereafter, the vesicles may fill with pus and the fluid turns cloudy, becoming pustular lesions or hemorrhagic if they fill with blood. This stage may be followed by recurrence of fever.

In the case of an unfavorable course of the illness, death may ensue within several days, even before the actual smallpox vesicles appear. Death occurs as a result of generalized sepsis due to a host of secondary bacterial infections that accompany smallpox, Staphylococcus aureus, pneumonia, and infection of the brain or bones.

People who have been immunized with the smallpox vaccine may develop no symptoms or have a milder course of the disease.

At the beginning stages, it is easy to confuse the disease with chickenpox. The initial rash is similar in both diseases. There are, however, a few differentiating features to keep in mind:

--- Topics include ---

Prophylaxis

Diagnosis

Treatment