Interestingly, during the 1700s, when this disease had wreaked havoc all over the world, there was a quaint village in England, where the farmers seemed to be immune from this disease. This was a mystery. It seemed as if the farmers living there had superpowers, to protect them from this dangerous virus. Smallpox was a viral disease spread by the Variola virus. It was a type of Orthopox virus.
In the same category, you’d also find Monkeypox, Cowpox. These are Orthopox viruses too. Smallpox was a highly contagious disease. It spread very easily. With the merest of sneezes or coughs, the respiratory droplets could spread it. It could be spread by a person’s saliva. Through the rashes on the skin. Even through contaminated surfaces. By using towels, bedsheets, or clothes of an infected person. And once infected, the initial symptoms were similar to normal cold and cough, but eventually, rashes started appearing on the body, later, these rashes turned into boils, in Hindi, they were known as Fafole.
The face and body of the person were then covered by these boils. About 8-16 days after being infected, and getting headaches, vomiting, rashes and fever, the person died. As we told you, the death rate was 30%. If you compare this with Covid-19, Covid-19’s death rate is less than 1%. Perhaps the worst part was that it infected children much more. And the death rate among children was even higher.
