title: Smallpox.
abstract: Smallpox is a highly infectious disease, which, in 1980, was declared eradicated by the World Health Organization as a result of successful vaccination campaigns. Because of its highly infectious nature and historical 30% mortality rate, the disease has possibly been developed as a biological weapon. Variola, the virus that causes smallpox, is readily transmissible from person to person during the incubation period, before infected individuals show signs of illness. When a victim develops the characteristic rash and viral syndrome associated with smallpox infection, the disease requires complex isolation and possibly quarantine. Diagnosis can be confirmed in a high-containment laboratory. The only effective treatment for smallpox is rapid administration of smallpox vaccine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 619 19th Street South Jefferson Tower North 266, Birmingham, AL 35249-7013, USA. snafziger@uabmc.edu
authors.forename: Sarah D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Nafziger
mesh_terms: D023482:Bioterrorism; D006801:Humans; D012899:Smallpox / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control; D014611:Vaccination