Vaiolo
Article
May 25, 2022
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by two variants of the Variola virus, Variola maior and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin terms variola or variola vera (from the late Latin variŏla, derived from varius, meaning vario, spotted), while the English term smallpox was coined in the United Kingdom in the 15th century to distinguish it from syphilis, called great pox. The smallpox virus is localized in the small circulation of the skin, oral cavity and pharynx. On the skin it manifests itself with a maculo-papular rash and, subsequently, with raised vesicles filled with fluid. Variola maior causes more relevant clinical manifestations and is characterized by a lethality of 30-35%. Long-term complications include characteristic scarring, especially on the face, in 65–85% of those who manage to survive; moreover, blindness, as a consequence of corneal ulcers and subsequent scarring, and deformity of the limbs, due to episodes of arthritis and osteomyelitis, can also occur, albeit with a lower prevalence estimated in 2-5% of cases. Variola minor causes a milder form of the disease, also known as alastrim, which can lead to death in 1% of cases. Smallpox is believed to have emerged in the human population around the 2nd millennium BC. and the earliest physical evidence can be traced back to the pustular rash found on the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses V. It is estimated that the disease killed around 400,000 Europeans each year during the 18th century and was responsible for one third of all cases of blindness. Of all infected people, about 20-60% of adults and 80% of children died. Smallpox is believed to have been the cause of 300-500 million deaths during the 20th century. In 1967 alone, according to data from the World Health Organization, fifteen million people contracted the disease and of these two million died. After a massive vaccination campaign carried out since the 19th century and conducted with a massive joint effort between 1958 and 1977, WHO declared the disease eradicated in 1979, after the last case of naturally occurring smallpox caused by Variola minor was diagnosed in Somalia on October 26, 1977. It was the only disease eradicated in human history until 2011, when rinderpest suffered the same fate.