Small Pox Research Paper

Small pox was a deadly killer that has plagued mankind from as early as 1570B.C where signs of small pox scarring have been found on Egyptian mummies (1). Although, crowding of the poor in cities led to more outbreaks of this airborne virus, small pox was not a picky virus as it infected both the rich and poor alike. Those whom contracted small pox were very likely to die and if they did survive they suffered from disfigured scarring and blindness. By the 18th century people were looking for a cure to this terrible virus but there was great difficulty because no one knew what caused small pox.

Edward Jenner was from Berkeley, Gloucestershire, and named the father of immunology pioneered and founded a vaccination for small pox (1). When Jenner was eight years old he was treated with what was thought to be the medical gold standard inoculation or variolation against small pox. Jenner’s doctor originally treated him by introducing variola of a recent smallpox victim into his hand (1). This was done because it was thought if the patient developed the pox and lived

Macaques showed sudden onset of illness with signs of anorexia, cough, nasal exudates, swollen eyelids, and enlarged spleens and kidneys (3). Macaques were determined to be co-infected with REBOV and simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV). Through testing REBOV was demonstrated to be less pathogenic than ZEBOV and SEBOV, with only 7 of 7 African green monkeys and 4 of 8 cynomolgus macaques surviving challenge (3). REBOV could not be recovered from survivors 20–600 days after challenge. Following this initial outbreak in Reston, several other cases of REBOV have occurred in both the United States and Italy, all attributed to animals imported from the Philippines and all from the same monkey breeding facility