Smallpox Victims and Heroes Trivia Quiz

Answer: Isabella I (Spain)

Smallpox was accidentally brought to the New World in circa 1520. It devastated the Incan and Aztec civilizations, making them easy for Spain to conquer. The Incan emperor, Huayna Capac, was destroyed by smallpox and, according to some theories, Montezuma of the Aztecs may have been a victim as well.

The mummy of Ramesses V was found to possess pock marks that investigators believe to be smallpox. Mary II was fortunate to stave off the virus long enough to reign as Queen; in her time, many heirs to the English throne died from smallpox before they could have been crowned.

Answer: The inventor of the smallpox vaccine

Edward Jenner invented the smallpox vaccine (the first vaccine) in 1796. The pre-existing therapy, variolation, involved giving susceptible people scabs from victims of the mild form of smallpox (the recipient would get smallpox but remain immune to the more serious smallpox). Edward Jenner suffered severely in his youth due to the side effects of variolation.

As a physician, he noted that milk maids did not get small pox and deduced that their exposure to cowpox gave them resistance to smallpox.

He tested the cowpox lesions on a local boy and then exposed the boy to smallpox. After the boy showed resistance to smallpox infection, Jenner trumpeted that he had found a preventive cure. Many people opposed the cowpox-based vaccine. Some people even claimed that it would turn people into cows.

Answer: Vaccination is unneccessary

Due to the efforts of the World Health Organization Smallpox Eradication Program from 1967 to 1980, smallpox was completely eliminated from all nations. Donald Henderson, the epidemiologist behind the effective vaccination strategies, has received numerous awards for his achievements as head of the Smallpox Eradication Program. Vaccinations are no longer necessary anywhere in the world.

It has been more than 30 years now since a case of natural small pox has been reported. The last known case of naturally-occurring smallpox (Variola minor) was diagnosed on October 26, 1977.

The last case of smallpox was caused by a laboratory accident, resulting in one more fatality, in 1978.

Answer: Soviet-era smallpox weapons in the wrong hands

The USSR stockpiled biological weapons, including some highly virulent strains of smallpox, during the 60s and 70s. When Soviet scientists exploded a small sample on the sparsely inhabited Vozrozhdeniya Island (near Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan), passengers on a research vessel 15 km away became infected and brought the disease to their hometown. Fortunately, the epidemic was small. Smallpox is not usually that easy to catch; the Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that airborne transmission is less common than direct contact (hand-to-hand, blankets, etc.) because the virus is fragile outside the body.
Military service personnel are now given the smallpox vaccine (The public is not).
All the other reasons are false or impossible (there are no smallpox outbreaks, the live vaccine is Vaccinia not Variola (so not a possible reverse mutant), and Al-Qaida operatives in the CDC is just a bad movie idea).

Answer: False

The program's purpose was to prevent the spread of naturally-occurring smallpox epidemics, not laboratory samples. By detecting outbreaks and limiting the spread with vaccinations, the program eliminated smallpox. The World Health Organization (WHO) officially endorsed the eradication of smallpox in 1980.
In 1978, a laboratory sample escaped to kill one more person. Despite political pressure to destroy laboratory stocks of smallpox, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) maintains a live sample of smallpox in Atlanta, GA. A laboratory in Russia also still possesses a sample.

Answer: False

In the 1830s, the Yup'ik Inuit community suffered from a smallpox epidemic in Western Alaska.
Smallpox was new to the New World when the European and African peoples arrived. Because every aboriginal person was susceptible to the disease (immigrant settlements were less susceptible to smallpox because most people were already immune due to earlier exposure), it devastated and ruined many communities. The New World diseases did not ravage the Old World as badly as the Old World diseases did the New World.

Answer: None of these

There was no cure. Victims either convalesced (got better) after a month or died. Animal-based studies have found cidofovir effective against smallpox.
Chickenpox is a herpes virus. Although chickenpox bumps resemble smallpox, smallpox is in the poxvirus family. Smallpox bumps are abundant in the mouth, soles, and palms, where chickenpox is not.

Answer: The technique of vaccinating contacts of smallpox victims

The WHOSEC, headed by Donald Henderson, used this technique to prevent the spread of smallpox. They located known and suspected victims and vaccinated anybody who may have come into contact with that person. The technique eradicated the virus by preventing it from infecting new hosts. Since the virus could not persist in existing hosts, it was effectively eliminated.

Answer: Fever (prodrome)

The first 7-17 days of infection are the incubation period, not contagious, and symptoms are absent. The prodrome (symptoms indicating disease onset) symptom is a very high fever. The victim is considered mildly contagious during the prodrome stage.

The victim is most contagious once the rash forms. The rash progresses to pustules that burst and release the virus into the air. The contagious period ends when the victim's rash disappears and scabs have fallen off. About 20-30 percent of Variola major victims die.

Answer: A murderer

Cotton Mather learned about variolation from Onesimus, a slave. Pus from an infected person was rubbed on an uninfected person's cut. Variolation caused a milder form of smallpox that resulted in a ten-fold reduction in mortality. When Mather tested variolation in Boston, six people died, prompting the public to judge him a murderer and threaten to hang him.

The population of Boston resurged after his treatment was widely used and Mather was celebrated as a hero.