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 Smallpox was a relatively contagious
disease. The virus could be transferred from one person to another
in a number of ways. A person could catch the virus by touching the
lesions of an infected person.
The virus could also be transferred in
droplets of moisture produced during coughing or sneezing. And a
person could get the virus from books, blankets, utensils, or other
objects used by someone with the disease.
Symptoms
After 12 days incubation, high fever, chills, severe
headache and backache, and general malaise. Hemorrhages may occur in
lungs or other organs. After 4 more days a distinctive itchy rash of
red lesions appears on face, arms, legs, and sometimes the trunk.
Varies in severity from a mild form with
few skin lesions to a highly fatal hemorrhagic form. The majority of
deaths occur in the second week of the disease. It was a horror in
the 15th century
Diseases
Dysentery
Ergotism Gonorrhea
Leprosy Malaria
Plague Smallpox
Typhoid Black
Death Darfoddedigaeth
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