Definition of smallpox Smallpox

/smɔˈlpɑˌks/ - [smolpaks] - small•pox

We found 6 definitions of smallpox from 6 different sources.

What does smallpox mean?

Noun Plural: smallpoxes
smallpox - a highly contagious viral disease characterized by fever and weakness and skin eruption with pustules that form scabs that slough off leaving scars
		variola, variola major
		pox a contagious disease characterized by purulent skin eruptions that may leave pock marks
		alastrim, cuban itch, kaffir pox, milk pox, pseudosmallpox, pseudovariola, west indian smallpox, white pox, variola minor a mild form of smallpox caused by a less virulent form of the virus

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smallpox (Noun)
An acute, highly infectious often fatal disease caused by a virus of the family Poxviridae. It was completely eradicated in the 1970s. Those who survived were left with pockmarks.

smallpox (n.)
A contagious, constitutional, febrile disease characterized by a peculiar eruption; variola. The cutaneous eruption is at first a collection of papules which become vesicles (first flat, subsequently umbilicated) and then pustules, and finally thick crusts which slough after a certain time, often leaving a pit, or scar.

smallpox
A highly contagious viral disease characterized by fever and weakness and skin eruption with pustules that form scabs that slough off leaving scars.

Smallpox is a very bad disease. It is caused by a virus. There are two different kinds of viruses that you can have. They are called "Variola major" and "Variola minor". Some people also call smallpox Variola, named after the viruses' fancy name.

Only people can get this disease. "Variola major" kills between 20% and 40% of those who get it. "Variola minor" kills only about 1%. Many people who survive become blind because of the damage the virus does to the eyes.

During the first half of the 20th century, between 300 million and 500 millon people died of this disease. Even in 1967, about 15 million people caught the disease, and about 2 millon people died of it, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The first cure for smallpox used the results of cowpox infections. A vaccine was developed and used to cure smallpox. A vaccine is the real term for that "shot" we all have to get from time to time. In 1979, the WHO said the disease no longer existed, and no one would ever get sick from it again. However, live copies of Smallpox are kept in different maximum-security laboratories around the world.

Some believe that smallpox could be used as an agent for purposely infecting enemies in a war. Today, most people no longer receive a smallpox shot; but a few very, very old people still need it.

If you have smallpox, you'd know it: your entire body would be covered in bumps that are far worse than the chicken pox.