Differentiating Symptoms between Variola minor and major
Smallpox is a very virulent disease that has many accompanying symptoms. The two major forms of smallpox, Variola major and Variola minor have many concurring symptoms that follow an identical course. However, major has some distinguishing symptoms that minor does not. These include hemorrhaging and internal and external bleeding. These extreme symptoms are the reason why major, the more common of the two forms, has a 30% fatality rate whereas minor only has a 1% fatality rate. If a person was fortunate and survived smallpox, they would be left with lifelong scars all over their body.
The World Health Organization announced that smallpox had been eradicated from the planet on May 8, 1980. This was prompted by a three year absence of a smallpox infection; the last occurring case was reported in Somalia in 1977. Since then, worldwide stock of smallpox vaccines has been reduced enormously simply because of speculation that there is no need for it anymore and administering the vaccine is impertinent. After the disappearance of smallpox as an afflicting disease, it now exists in labs in only two locations, the United States and Russia, where it is studied for research purposes only. Smallpox is a virus that has two major forms, Variola major and Variola minor, and each form has similar and differentiating symptoms with regards to the other type (Alibek, 1999).
The word virus comes from the Latin word, poison. A virus infects a cell and into it, inserts its DNA. The virus then multiplies inside the cell and when enough of the virus has been produced, the newly formed viruses will break out into the body of the host, destroying the cell in the process. Variola major and Variol...
... middle of paper ...
...ing this disease far outweigh whatever risk there is in taking the vaccine. I for
Differentiating Symptoms between Variola major and minor 6
one would do anything to avoid this potentially deadly disease, but the most favorable option, a vaccine, is not available. This blemish to our society should be corrected as a precautionary measure, which would ultimately enhance life in the future.
References:
Alibek, K. (1999). Biohazard. New York: Random House.
Muiruri, D. (2000). Small pox. Retrieved Jul. 31, 2005, from
http://www.goshen.edu/bio/Biol206/Biol206LabProject/smallpox/Smallpox.html.
Smallpox Disease Overview. (2004). Retrieved Jul. 31, 2005, from
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/overview/disease-facts.asp.
The Clinical Course of Smallpox. (2003). Retrieved Jul. 31, 2005, from
http://www.stanford.edu/~juliakl/Smallpox/Smallpox%20the%20Disease.htm
The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston is an intriguing book that discusses the anthrax terrorist attacks after 9/11 and how smallpox might become a future bioterrorist threat to the world. The book provides a brief history of the smallpox disease including details of an outbreak in Germany in 1970. The disease was eradicated in 1979 due to the World Health Organization’s aggressive vaccine program. After the virus was no longer a treat the World Health Organization discontinued recommending the smallpox vaccination. In conjunction, inventory of the vaccine was decreased to save money. The virus was locked up in two labs, one in the United States and one in Russia. However, some feel the smallpox virus exists elsewhere. Dr. Peter Jahrling and a team of scientists at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Maryland became concerned terrorists had access to the smallpox virus and planed to alter the strain to become more resistant. These doctors conducted smallpox experiments to discover more effective vaccines in case the virus were released. Preparedness for a major epidemic is discussed as well as the ease with which smallpox can be bioengineered.
Orthopoxvirus variola is the virus responsible for the well-known smallpox disease. It belongs to the Poxviridae family which is further split into the subfamilies Entomopoxivirinae which only affects insects, and Chordopoxivirinae which infects vertebrae (Hughes). It is in group one of the Baltimore Classification since it possesses double-stranded DNA. This group also includes viruses in the Herpesviridae family, certain bacteriophages, as well as the mimivirus. The linear genome consists of approximately 186 kb pair and, like all orthopoxviruses, is about 200 nm in diameter (Li; Riedel). Virus particles may be enveloped, but the majority will be nonenveloped when released from a lysed cell, ready and capable to affect another. Extracellular enveloped viruses evolve from their precursors intracellular enveloped virus and cell-associated enveloped virus and contain proteins that aid the virus in neutralizing host cell antibodies to enhance virus spread (Smith). Entrance into the host cell may be accomplished by fusion of endocytosis, contingent on the particular strain. Host cell cytoplasm is the site of poxvirus replication, therefore host nuclear enzymes are unavailable to the virus; to overcome this, DNA-dependent RNA polymerase enters the host with the virus (Hughes).
¨The Benefits of Vaccination Outweigh the Risks¨ addresses the pros and cons of vaccination, weighing the possible side effects of different vaccines against the possible benefits. The article argues that the small chance of side effects is worth the protection a vaccine provides. Claiming that the prevented diseases usually result in many more serious illnesses or deaths than the vaccines do. The article uses clearly presented evidence to support claims in favor of vaccinations while also acknowledging that choosing to vaccinate is up to the individual.
...ts about the dangers related to vaccines, progress is being made. The primary issue at the end of the day should be to protect the people from illnesses the best way possible whether it be with the help of vaccines or without.
In order to understand the history of smallpox one first has to understand how diseases like it evolve. Much like other species, diseases that survive in the long run are the microbes that most effectively reproduce and are able to find suitable places to live. For a microbe to effectively reproduce, it must "be defined mathematically as the number of new infected per each original patient." This number will largely depend on how long each victim is able to spread the virus to other victims (Diamond, 198).
There is no vaccine to protect against it and, in the most severe cases, no cure. The population of Phoenix has grown by ten per cent in the past deca...
It was spread very slowly and less broadly than other viral illnesses which took a long time to identify the infection in the first two weeks. Infection of smallpox started to grow between 7 to 10 days when the scabs formed into bruises. The signs and symptoms of this disease include high fever, widespread rashes, redness, muscle pain, headache, common cold, vomiting, nausea and many more. Consequently, the virus was found in the bone marrow along with bloodstream in huge numbers. There are different types of the smallpox disease with other classifications.
Vaccines have been used to prevent diseases for centuries, and have saved countless lives of children and adults. The smallpox vaccine was invented as early as 1796, and since then the use of vaccines has continued to protect us from countless life threatening diseases such as polio, measles, and pertussis. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) assures that vaccines are extensively tested by scientist to make sure they are effective and safe, and must receive the approval of the Food and Drug Administration before being used. “Perhaps the greatest success story in public health is the reduction of infectious diseases due to the use of vaccines” (CDC, 2010). Routine immunization has eliminated smallpox from the globe and led to the near removal of wild polio virus. Vaccines have reduced some preventable infectious diseases to an all-time low, and now few people experience the devastating effects of measles, pertussis, and other illnesses.
... you wait, the more likely your child’s immune system will be able to handle the onslaught with minimal damage” (Sarah). I am not suggesting that we return to the days without vaccines. But we must seriously address what appears to be an obvious link between the epidemic of developmental delays, autoimmune diseases, and the increasing number of mandatory vaccines. Every parent should know the advantages as well as the dangers associated with each and every vaccine, each and every time it is given. They should know the positive and negative consequences of refusing that their children be vaccinated, and be made aware of how they can go about getting exemptions. Also-- the government, industry, health-care professionals, and parents must band together to get the research needed to determine the safety of these vaccines. The stakes are too high for us to do otherwise.
...Although these were initially set to prevent infectious diseases it has been found that there is also prevention of autoimmune diseases, birth control and also cancer therapy. While vaccines provide a proficient means of preventing diseases and improving public health it doesn’t mean all are essential to a healthy life, some do more damage if a sufficient immune system is not present. How the vaccine is formulated and distributed is important to study and follow up on to be certain it is in the best interest of your body to receive the vaccine. Vaccinations will remain present, but it is our choice as individuals to know what they are composed of and how they are administered. Immunizations should be valued and taken seriously, this advancement in technology came at a high speed, which means flaws, and errors will exist, whether we notice them now or in the future.
Vaccines have been around for hundreds of years starting in 1796 when Edward Jenner created the first smallpox vaccine. Jenner, an English country doctor noticed cowpox, which were blisters forming on the female cow utters. Jenner then took fluid from the cow blister and scratched it into an eight-year-old boy. A single blister came up were the boy had been scratched but it quickly recovered. After this experiment, Jenner injected the boy with smallpox matter. No disease arose, the vaccine was a success. Doctors all around Europe soon began to proceed in Jenner’s method. Seven different vaccines came from the single experimental smallpox vaccine. Now the questions were on the horizon. Should everyone be getting vaccinations? Where’s the safety limit? How can they be improved? These questions needed answers, and with a couple hundred years later with all the technology, we would have them(ncbi.nlm.nih.gov).
“Smallpox Eradication: Destrcution of the Variola Virus Stocks.” 15 April 2009. World Health Organization. 15 Nov. 2014
...weigh the risks of not getting vaccinated. Therefore, I believe that vaccinations should be mandatory to help better our society. Hopefully in the upcoming years we will know more about vaccines than we could have ever imagined.
The history of smallpox goes back for thousands of years. It is thought to have appeared as much as 10,000 years ago and since then, it has claimed the lives of millions of people, many of whom have been famous figures in history. After a vaccine was discovered in 1796, countries throughout the world began the fight to eradicate the disease. This fight was won in 1980 as a result of the international effort headed by the World Health Organization. Today, smallpox is no longer a threat in nature but the virus is still stored in labs, from which a biological weapon could be made.
Vaccinations have significantly reduced the disease rate throughout the world. Usually, vaccines prove to be between 90 and 99 percent effective. This reduces disease and mortality rate by thousands every year (Jolley and Douglas 1). On average, vaccines save the lives of 33,000 innocent children every year (“Vaccines” 1). In addition, if a vaccinated child did contract the vaccine’s targeted illness, that child would, in general, have more mild symptoms than an unvaccinated child that contracts the same illness. These vaccinated children will have less serious complications if they do contract the disease; they will be much more treatable, and have a lower risk of death (Jolley and Douglas 2). The risks of not vaccinating greatly outweigh the small risks of vaccination. Diseases like measles and mumps can cause permanent disability. While there i...