All About Smallpox

Essay by condourUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, January 2003

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Small pox, which was once the most feared disease known by mankind started out in the days of Christopher Columbus. The disease set out to change the lives of the people in the worse way. It became known as an epidemic disease that ended up killing

hundreds of people. Small pox started out in Hispaniola and because of no cure, it

traveled to the island of Puerto Rico, and then Cuba. It was only a matter of time until it

spread to the mainland, somewhere in America. In the Middle Ages, small pox was a

highly contagious disease which often lead to death if not treated. In this term paper you

will read and learn about the causes, symptoms and treatments of this horrible disease.

Small pox which was often refereed to as a life threatening disease, is caused by a

virus, which was not discovered until the nineteenth century.

Most of the victims whom

acquired small pox, was a result of face to face contact. It is passed through the nose

where tiny particles are released when the infected person sneezes, also by the mouth

where particles are once again ejected when the victim coughs. The disease can be

transmitted by dried small pox scabs and through materials the infected person has come

in contact with. The virus is reproduced in the lymphoid tissue and released into the

body. Virus reproduction begins when the virion comes into contact with a suitable host

cell. The virus must interact with a receptor on the cell surface. The infectious cycle

usually consists of two stages. The first stage makes the proteins necessary for the

protein to form. The second stage forms the adult virion to start the attack on the body.

Smallpox attack with no warning.

There are several painful...