Is it possible to get smallpox

However, because of concern that variola virus might be used as an agent of bioterrorism, the U. If you need long-term protection, you may need to get booster vaccinations regularly.

To stay protected from smallpox, you should get booster vaccinations every 3 years. If there is a smallpox outbreak, public health officials will say who else should get the vaccine. CDC works with federal, state, and local officials to prepare for a smallpox outbreak. The smallpox vaccine is given by a special technique. It is given using a two-pronged bifurcated needle that is dipped into the vaccine solution.

When removed, the needle holds a droplet of the vaccine. The needle is used to prick the skin a number of times in a few seconds. Smallpox antivirals are needed for treatment or post-exposure prophylaxis. Early results from laboratory studies suggest that the drug cidofovir may be an effective treatment against the smallpox virus. NIAID-supported scientists are doing studies with animals to better understand the drug's ability to treat smallpox.

Organization History. Visitor Information Contact Us. Smallpox Vaccine. Credit: CDC. Read more about smallpox vaccine supply and strength. Immunity to smallpox is believed to rest on the development of neutralizing antibodies, levels of which decline five to 10 years after vaccination. This has never been satisfactorily determined, though.

And because smallpox has been eradicated in the wild, correlating antibody levels with susceptibility is not possible. Revisiting historical data is difficult because of incomplete information in a number of areas. These include how many times the subjects were vaccinated revaccination produces longer-lasting immunity , whether the vaccinations were carried out successfully and whether or not subjects ever had a subclinical smallpox infection that would boost their immunity this situation is particularly likely in endemic areas.

The last natural smallpox infection occurred in , so recent advances in immunology and medical testing cannot be brought to bear on this question. Before smallpox was eradicated, the World Health Organization WHO recommended that international travelers to nonendemic countries should be revaccinated every five to 10 years and travelers to endemic countries should be revaccinated every three years.

Lab workers in diagnostic facilities and others more likely to be exposed to the smallpox virus were advised to be vaccinated once a year. The basis for the WHO guidelines was that a history of vaccination within five years was known to offer good protection, whereas the data for vaccination beyond 10 years was difficult to interpret. A conservative estimate of the duration of smallpox immunity was therefore justified.

Smallpox is spread from one person to another by large droplets from the mouth and throat of people who have the disease. This means it is spread by coughing, sneezing or talking. Contact with an infected person must be fairly close within about 6 feet in order for spread to occur. Smallpox is different from chickenpox in how it is spread. Whereas chickenpox virus varicella can be spread before the rash occurs, smallpox is only spread after the rash has occurred. The virus that is spread from one person to another is contained in the blisters that are located in the mouth and throat.

The smallpox vaccine is made using a poxvirus that infects cows cowpox. Cowpox causes disease in cows, but it rarely causes disease in humans. Because cowpox and human smallpox are similar, infection with cowpox can protect people against smallpox. The person who first used cowpox to protect against smallpox was Edward Jenner in Jenner was a family physician who lived in southern England.

He noticed that every few years, when smallpox would sweep across the English countryside, women who milked cows milkmaids were spared the infection. He reasoned that these women were getting infected when they came in contact with blisters on the udders of cows during milking, and that this infection was protecting them from infection with smallpox. So, he took fluid from the blisters of cows and injected it into several people including his month-old son to see if that fluid protected against smallpox.

It worked. Smallpox was the first human infection to be successfully eradicated. Eradication, which means elimination from the face of the earth, was accomplished by vaccination and public health procedures to track and contain the disease. The last case of natural smallpox occurred in Somalia in , and the World Health Organization declared it to be eradicated in The success in eradicating smallpox provided hope for eradication of other devastating diseases, such as polio, rubella and measles.

To date, the only other viruses to be eradicated include a virus that infected cattle, called rinderpest, and one of three types of polio virus [type 2]. Because smallpox no longer occurs anywhere in the world, the general population is no longer vaccinated against it. The smallpox vaccine is administered in a unique manner. A drop of the vaccine virus called vaccinia is placed on the upper arm. The drop is then inoculated into the skin using a two-pronged, stainless steel needle.