Small Pox, 
a Catastrophic disease!

By Manuel Luciano da Silva, Medical Doctor

 

Click on picture for a larger view.
Dr. Jenner gives the first vaccine in he world

Small pox was, for many centuries, a dreaded disease that caused many plagues which killed in Europe many millions of people.

In England it was observed that the farmers who milked the cows caught a disease similar to small pox, with typical skin lesions, on their hands, called yellow pustules (filled with pus), but never died of the true small pox maladie.

Dr. Edward Jenner, a country physician, in England, observed that the people who had gotten the so called cow small pox disease, were protect against the real small pox disease. Based on this observation, Dr. Jenner decided, on May 1796, to inoculate James Phipps, an eight year old boy, with matter taken from a cowpox pustule on a dairymaids’ hand. As expected, the boy developed cowpox, but soon recovered. Four weeks later, Dr. Jenner inoculated the same boy with pus of the real small pox. As he hoped the same boy did not develop any signs of the killing small pox! This boy became protected against the biggest scourge of humanity, small pox!

After further investigations, Dr. Jenner published his results in a small booklet called "An Inquiry into the causes and effects of the variolae Vaccinae". The name vaccine is derived from the Latin word "Vaca" which means cow. This publication led to the practice of vaccination rapidly in England and soon became even compulsory in the British army and navy. Eventually it was adopted throughout the world to the point that in 1982, it was considered to be eradicated from the surface of the earth. This achievement came about because the United Nations got the cooperation of all nations to demand a certificated of vaccination for any one traveling from one country into another.

Small pox in the Americas

It is a known historical fact that the viral diseases brought from Europe to America by the discoverers and colonizers, such as Portuguese, Spanish, French, British, etc., caused more deaths among the American Indians than with the fire arms! The American Indians had no immunity against viral diseases such as measles, mumps, influenza or flu and small pox. If the new comers wanted to conquer an Indian village what they had to do was simply to cough on the face of the Indians and they would contract one of those viral diseases and be killed by fulminating pneumonias up to 98 percent of the people in their village!

The Americans are now in the
same conditions as the American Indians were five centuries ago!

Because the American people have not been vaccinated for small pox in the last twenty years, all Americans now do not have any immunity against the small pox virus. The American people are now on the same virgin condition as the American Indians were five centuries ago!!! If the United States is attacked by bioterrorism, with small pox virus, we could have an epidemic in this country and run the danger of many millions of Americans dyeing of the small pox disease!

This is the reason why President Bush and the American Health Authorities started vaccinating all the elements of the Armed Forces, and also the medical professionals, and finally the general population will be offered, free of charge, the same vaccine.

Small pox can be prevented and treated only by the vaccine. There are no antibiotics that can cure the small pox. Why? Because the virus that causes the small pox is so small that it enters through the pores of every cell in our body, but the molecules of the antibiotics are too big to enter inside of the cells, and therefore the antibiotics are unable to reach into the cells and kill the small pox virus inside!

How is small pox transmitted?

The virus of small pox is transmitted by directed contact. It can be even transmitted by insects. If a mother pregnant gets small pox the disease can be contagious to the fetus. The epidemics of small pox are much more frequent in the Winter and in the Spring. Small pox is much, much more contagious than SIDA, or HIV.

Symptoms

There is a period of incubation which may last from 3 to 10 days.

The diseases starts revealing itself first by high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, severe headaches, and even convulsions.

The skin rash starts first on the face, and then forearms. Next will spread to arms, trunk and chest, and all the rest of the body, except the axilas and inguinal regions. The skin lesions become vesicles, which eventually fill themselves with pus, called pustules. On the tenth day these pustules form brown dry crusts which eventually fall, leaving scars typical of third degree burns made by a burning cigarette. The small pox kills by causing fulminating pneumonias, encephalitis, kidney failure and even endocarditis.

Vaccine against small pox

Up until 1982 the vaccination against small pox was required by all nations, at the request of the United Nations. As a practicing physician I vaccinated many hundreds of persons. I even had a stamp with a special number given to me by the Health Authorities that I had to use on the top of my signature on the small yellow booklet that each person had to show together with the passport at the international police officers upon the arrival at the visiting country. Fortunately, I never had a patient that had any complications with the small pox vaccine, even though I was aware that one in a million vaccinated can died of complications from the vaccine! Why? Because the virus that composed the small pox vaccine is not dead, it is only attenuated. The virus that compose other vaccines, such as polio, mumps, rubella, are killed virus, they cannot cause the diseases.

There are about twenty five millions Americans that cannot take the small pox vaccine. Fifteen million that have eczema, should not take this vaccine. The others are people that have a deficiency in their immunity such as those that have received chemotherapy because of cancer, the ones that have leukemias, lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, and even those that are doing kidney dialyses and those that have received some form of transplants.

Here are some dramatic photos
in color of the small pox disease

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General clinical evolution of small pox disease

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The yellowish pustules start on the face

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Next the pustules will appear on trunk and hands

 

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On the tenth day the pustules change to brown
crusts and eventually will fall leaving scars
typical of third degrees burns


Color photographs of the 
skin changes caused by the vaccine

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The liquid of the vaccine is placed on the skin of one arm or thigh and then the physician with a special needle will make 2 or 3 scratches so that the liquid of the vaccine will get under the skin in order for the vaccine to take. By the 6th day at the site of the vaccination a vesicle will develop similar to a small pox.

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On the 8th day the vesicle will reach its 
maximum, form a brown crust and will fall off.

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On the 10th day the crust will fall off and will leave a scar which will stay forever.

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