What are the symptoms of small pox?
Symptoms include high fever, fatigue, and head and back aches which are followed in 2-3 days by the rash. Lesions in the mouth and throat that appear early in the illness ulcerate and release large amounts of virus in the saliva. The most visible symptom of smallpox is a rash with lesions most dense on the face, arms and legs. The lesions are round, tense, and deeply embedded in the skin, and appear over a 1- to 2-day period, evolving at the same rate on the body. Lesions become pus- filled and begin to crust early in the second week of the rash. Scabs eventually develop which separate and fall off after about 3-4 weeks. . How is smallpox spread? Smallpox is spread, most often, by an ill person releasing virus infected saliva droplets from their mouth into the air that are inhaled by a susceptible person in close contact with the ill person (face-to-face contact). Because virus titers in saliva are highest during the first week of illness, this is when people are the most infectious. D
