Comprehension: Small Pox

          Smallpox was always a highly dreaded disease in Nigeria. It can spread rapidly with devasting results in communities where resistance to the disease is low. The disease is caused by a virus which is present in the rashes generally found in infected persons. The disease is spread from an infected person to a healthy one through direct contact with the patient’s clothing or any article that had come into contact with the patient, such as bedclothes.

          An individual infected with the virus usually develops a sudden fever, severe headache and backache. About four days after the onset of symptoms, generalized rashes appear all over the body. The patient is severely ill. Death occurs in about 30% of untreated cases. Among those few individuals who recover, the rashes heal up after two weeks, leaving deep scars which are disfiguring. Blindness and deafness are common complications of this disease. One attack of smallpox makes the individual resistant to future infections with the virus.

          Smallpox is a disease whose occurrence in any part of the globe should be reported by the fastest means possible to the World Health Organization Headquarters in Geneva, which will in turn notify all member countries so that adequate measures can be taken to prevent the importation of the virus into other countries.

(Ademuwagun Z.A. and Oduntan S.O: A School Health Education Handbook. UP PLC)