Smallpox can also spread through contact with contaminated clothing and bedding. Rarely, smallpox can spread through the air inside buildings, infecting people in other rooms or on other floors. Coming in contact with skin sores also can cause you to get smallpox. An infected person can spread the virus when they cough, sneeze or talk. You can catch the smallpox virus by being around someone who has it. Smallpox can be spread from person to person when the rash appears and until the scabs fall off. Scabs form 8 to 9 days later and eventually fall off, leaving deep, pitted scars. Within a day or two, many of the spots turn into small blisters filled with clear fluid. The face, arms and legs are often affected first, followed by the torso, hands and feet. They may start in the mouth and on the tongue and then spread to the skin. These include:Ī few days later, flat, red spots appear on the body. This time is called the incubation period.Īfter the incubation period, sudden flu-like symptoms occur. However, the virus can be in your body from 7 to 19 days before you look or feel sick. The first symptoms of smallpox usually appear 12 to 14 days after you're exposed to the smallpox virus. This photograph was taken in Bangladesh in 1974. New antiviral medications can be used to treat people who develop smallpox. Vaccines can prevent smallpox, but because most people are unlikely to come in contact with smallpox naturally, routine vaccination isn't recommended. This has led to concerns that smallpox could someday be used as a bioweapon. And scientific advances have made it possible to create smallpox in a lab. Samples of smallpox virus have been kept for research purposes. The last case of naturally occurring smallpox was reported in 1977. It's no longer found naturally in the world. Smallpox has affected humans for thousands of years but was wiped out worldwide by 1980 thanks to smallpox vaccines. It's contagious - meaning it spreads from person to person - and can cause permanent scarring. Smallpox is a serious and often deadly viral infection. Learn about the symptoms, causes and vaccine prevention of this contagious, disfiguring and sometimes fatal viral disease.

Smallpox skin contact