Smallpox is a contagious, disfiguring, and deadly infection caused by the Variola virus. The latest cases were in Somalia in 1979, but since then, cases vaccination eradicated the diseases. Smallpox remains to be of health and security concern since the virus can be released by the bioterrorist attack ( Voigt, Kennedy, & Poland, 2016) . The virus passes from the infected person to another person through a contagious chain of infection, spread through inhaling air droplets. The incubation period of the variola virus is 7 to 17 days (McCance & Huether, 2010). The two clinical causal agents include variola virus, which is a severe form of smallpox characterized by numerous rashes, high fever, and mortality. The other is variola minor, which is less severe, with a mortality rate of approximately one percent.
Smallpox reveals itself twelve to fourteen days after contagion, and the individual develops febrile and experience aching and prostration. The patient shows signs of fever, headache malaise, back pain, vomiting, tiredness, and vomiting. A few days after infection, a widespread rash develops in the face and spread, and the patients experience pain as the pustules grow and expand (McCance & Huether, 2010). According to CDC, approximately 5 to 10% of smallpox patients develop dense lesions on the dermis that are densely confluent to the skin and may result in bleeding in the skin and intestinal tract ( Vesely, Castillo & Morgan, 2016) . Death occurs mainly in the second week if not treated. Upon exposure, the patient needs to be vaccinated immediately or with two to three days. Also, vaccination between four to five days might protect the patient from death.
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There is no known treatment for smallpox; therefore, safety measures are essential for prevention and control. In the case of the smallpox outbreak, the most recommended safety issue is to get vaccinated, which provide cross-immunity. Preexposure vaccination is given to people at high risk of exposure to the virus (McCance & Huether, 2010). Safety measures are administered to prevent bioterrorism, which might release the virus into the atmosphere ( Voigt et al., 2016) . To those infected, vaccination and revaccination is recommended within 3 to 7 days of infection.
References
McCance, K. A. & Huether, S.E. (2010). Pathophysiology: The biologic basis for disease in adults and children (7th ed.). St. Louis: Mosby. http://93.174.95.29/_ads/4F99670CFE5D0A61246901E82825ED26
Vesely, N., Castillo, B., & Morgan, M. B. (2016). Smallpox. In Deadly Dermatologic Diseases (pp. 195-199). Springer, Cham.
Voigt, E. A., Kennedy, R. B., & Poland, G. A. (2016). Defending against smallpox: a focus on vaccines. Expert review of vaccines , 15 (9), 1197-1211.
