What is smallpox, what are the symptoms, is there a vaccine and how is it treated?
The last known case of smallpox in the UK was recorded in the summer of 1978, with the disease claiming the life of Janet Parker, a 40-year-old medical photographer from Birmingham
SMALLPOX was once a common global disease that saw small blood vessels of the skin, mouth and throat become infected before virus the spread across the body.
The last known case of smallpox in the UK was recorded in the summer of 1978, with the disease claiming the life of Janet Parker, a 40-year-old medical photographer from Birmingham. Here's more about the killer disease and how it is treated.
What is smallpox?
During the 20th century it was responsible for 300-400 million deaths and in 1967 the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that around 15 million people had the disease and two million died in that year.
Fortunately after various vaccination campaigns during the 19th and 20th centuries, smallpox was considered to be globally eradicated in 1979 by the WHO.
But, now scientists are concerned the disease may be making a comeback because climate change is rapidly thawing the permafrost where the infected bodies are buried.
During the 1890s, a major epidemic of smallpox broke out in a small Siberian town near the Kolyma River in Russia.
The disease killed up to 40 per cent of the population and the bodies were buried in soil near the river, but now the water is thawing the banks three times faster than usual and the infected bodies are becoming exposed.
What are the symptoms of smallpox?
If someone has contracted smallpox, the symptoms will usually appear between 12 and 14 days after exposure.
After an incubation period of between a week to 17 days, victims will likely experience a sudden onset of flu-like symptoms, which could include:
- Fever
- Overall discomfort
- Headache
- Severe fatigue
- Severe back pain
- Vomiting, possibly
After these initial symptoms occur red lesions will start to appear on your face, hands and forearms a few days later.
And within a day or two, these will develop into small fluid-filled blisters which soon turn into pus.
Over the next eight to nine days, these clear blisters will start to scab and leave pitted scars.
What is the treatment for smallpox?
If an outbreak of smallpox has occurred anyone who has come into contact with an infected person will be given a vaccination which can prevent or lessen the impact of the disease.
But currently, there is no cure once a person has developed the deadly disease, although there are some prevention techniques to stop the symptoms becoming worse.
Firstly, victims will be kept hydrated to prevent a breakout of infection, and antibiotics may be prescribed to stop bacteria developing in the lungs or the skin.
Who was the last known case of smallpox?
The last person to die from smallpox was a woman named Janet Parker.
The 40-year-old medical photographer from Birmingham died on September 11, 1978 - exactly one month after she started feeling unwell.
Within days, she developed unsightly red spots on her back, limbs and face, but when a doctor was called, she was told she had chickenpox.
However, she had already had the chickenpox virus as a child, and her sceptical mother knew the large blistering pustules now appearing on her body were considerably different.
As her condition deteriorates, Janet was admitted to the Catherine-de-Barnes Isolation Hospital in Solihull.
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At the time, the WHO was on the brink of declaring smallpox eradicated worldwide, and there had been no reported cases of the disease in the UK for five years.
By August 28, 1978, just two weeks after the 40-year-old first showed symptoms of the disease, more than 500 people had been vaccinated as the country put into place emergency measures.
It is believed she contracted the virus while working in the smallbox laboratory at Birmingham Medical School - headed by Professor Henry Bedson.
He took responsibility for her condition, and feeling distraught he committed suicide.