Smallpox as a Health Hazard

The last case of smallpox (Latin Variola) was documented in Somalia in the late 1970s. In 1967, the World Health Organization (WHO) had launched a worldwide vaccination campaign to eradicate smallpox after a full-blown smallpox epidemic broke out in Europe. However, as smallpox vaccination is associated with strong risks, the vaccination obligation was lifted again in Germany already in the following decade. On May 8, 1980, the WHO declared the world free of smallpox.

Smallpox epidemics worldwide

As late as the 18th and 19th centuries, smallpox, also called smallpox, led to the death of about 70 percent of those infected. Survivors were disfigured or suffered complications such as paralysis, blindness, and deafness. The first accurate description of the disease comes from Arabia (about 900 AD).

But smallpox was known many centuries earlier. Traditions from around 1,500 B.C. from China testify to this. Smallpox came to America with the Spanish conquistadors and was responsible for the downfall of the Incas and Aztecs – there are said to have been over three million deaths. Famous men such as Stalin, Beethoven and Mozart also suffered from smallpox.

Disease patterns of smallpox

After an incubation period of 8 to 14 days, the smallpox virus is transmitted by droplet and smear infections, such as through sneezing or clothing. The highly complex viruses protect their DNA, or genetic information, with a very resistant protein coat. The dangerous real smallpox starts similar to a flu with fever and aching limbs as well as bronchitis and a cold.

After about two days, a skin rash is added. The fever initially recedes, then rises again and again and infected persons suffer from delirium and disorientation.

Initially, pale red spots form almost all over the body, itch and swell into nodules. They become pustules, which later dry up, form a scab, itch intensely and subsequently form scars. Between 20 and 50 percent of patients die.

A very severe form of smallpox is “black pox” (Variola haemorrhogica): the skin, mucous membranes and internal organs bleed, and most patients die after only a few days.

White smallpox (Variola minor), on the other hand, is far less severe, with a death rate of one to five percent – but once infected with white smallpox, one is not immune to contracting true smallpox.

Vaccinations

The first positive attempts to achieve a vaccine against the viruses were achieved by the English physician E. Jenner in 1798, who conducted his experiments on a young boy, under the permission of his father, by first injecting him with a small dose of animal pox. After the infection had healed, he tried injecting human disease-causing smallpox – with success.

Since smallpox vaccination ceased in Germany in 1975, all those born later are completely unprotected. But even those who have been vaccinated, doctors suspect, no longer have sufficient vaccination protection, since vaccinations must be refreshed every five to ten years.

When vaccination is given in the upper arm, there is a skin reaction with pustule formation only at this site, which usually heals without complications. But there is also vaccination damage: statistically, one in 800,000 vaccinated persons dies; if all 80 million German citizens were immunized, there would be 100 deaths. Severe vaccine damage such as meningitis would affect several hundred people.