Category Archives: smallpox

Plagues

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After experiencing Covid this past week, I have a new interest in the plagues that have occurred throughout human history.

Some, like smallpox, have been eradicated in the wild. The last case occurred in 1978 when a lab worker was infected and died.

Smallpox has been around for over 3000 years; the exact beginnings are not known. It was widely feared, and with good reason.The ordinary type of smallpox was extremely lethal with death rates ranging between 30 and over 60 percent. Almost as feared was the scarring left in those who survived. The malignant form is even more lethal, causing death in almost 100 % of the time. Smallpox epidemics swept through the population in regular waves. George Washington was so nervous about the effect on the Continental troops that he insisted everyone be variegated (inoculated with matter from a pustule. Death could still occur but was less likely.)

Another greatly feared plague was the Bubonic, the so-called Black Death. It also swept over Europe in waves and is still the most lethal pandemic recorded, killing between 75 and 200 million people. Estimates of death rates in Europe range between 45 and 60%. The Hemmoraghic form had a mortality rate of between 90 to 95%. Entire villages were wiped out. The loss of so much population created tremendous economic and social upheaval and, arguably, contributed to the rise of the middle class.

The Black Death is so-called because it causes the flesh to die and turn black. Because the Bubonic Plague (called that because of the swellings, or buboes) is bacterial, it is treated with antibiotics and is now curable.

Influenza. There have been six pandemics in the last 140 years, with the 1918 pandemic being the worst. Millions died and millions more were sickened. Like COVID, it is a respiratory disease. Severe cases still cause death. Because it is viral, antibiotics do not work. A new vaccine shot must be taken every year as the virus mutates quickly.

And then we come to COVID. Vaccinated and boosted, my case was not terrible. I felt awful the first day but then the illness moderated to nothing worse than a bad cold.

Epidemics – Smallpox

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In almost every Will Rees mystery, I include at least one profession and one illness. In Simply Dead, for example, I studied hoop making (for barrels) and lumbering. One of the characters is severely ill with diabetes.

In A Circle of Dead Girls, tuberculosis was the disease of choice. Because the story is set against the early days of the circus, I included details about wagons and early magic tricks.

In Will Rees Number 10, A Murder of Principle, I am including smallpox. Like Covid-19, smallpox was a viral disease and greatly feared.

The initial symptoms were similar to the flu, Covid-19 and many other viral diseases: fever, muscle pain, fatigue and headache. Before the distinctive rash erupted, small reddish spots appeared on mucous membranes of the mouth, tongue, and throat. 

The characteristic skin rash form within two days after the reddish spots on the mucous membranes. The rash was formed of pustules with a dot (that became filled with fluid) in the center. These spots scabbed over and then the scabs fell off, usually resulting in scarring.

The origin of smallpox is unknown although the theory says the virus developed in certain African rodents 60,000 or so years ago. The earliest evidence of human illness dates to the third century BCE with Egyptian mummies It is a lethal disease with a fatality rate for the ordinary kind of about 30 percent. Higher among babies. The Malignant and Hemorrhagic forms are over ninety percent fatal. Occurring in outbreaks, it killed hundreds of thousands, including at least six monarchs in Europe. In the twentieth century it is estimated to have killed 300 million alone. As recently as 1967, 15 million cases occurred worldwide.

In 1796, Edward Jenner discovered that milkmaids who had contracted cowpox, a much less serious disease, did not come down with smallpox. He began a trial and proved that inoculation with cowpox prevented smallpox. Inoculation with the live virus had already begun but, although the disease tended to be less severe and less fatal, some people still died. The cowpox was safer.

Later, the vaccine was made of the killed virus. In Great Britain, Russia, the United States vaccination was practiced. However. My father contracted small pox as a toddler and lived to tell the tale. I am old enough to remember my smallpox vaccination and still bear the scar on my upper arm.

A concerted global effort a to eradicate smallpox succeeded with the last naturally occurring case in 1977. (The last death was in 1978. A researcher contracted the disease from a research sample.) WHO officially certified the eradication of smallpox in 1980.