The victim first develops a high fever and eventually becomes prostrate. The mucus membranes of the nose and throat will become inflamed and pus will drain through the nose. In humans, nodules will form on the skin and eventually burst, leaving large eruptions. Infection may lead to cartilage and bone damage. Widely vaccinated for.
Smallpox is present in secretions and discharges from the nose and the mouth of a victim.
Skin eruptions and resulting scabs contain viral colonies. Dried scab material can be spread through clothing, bedding, and tools and utensils. The virus can be cultivated in fertilized chicken eggs and then freeze dried. The numbers of people killed in previous centuries by smallpox are so large that they are numbing. Some authors credit smallpox with the collapse of both the Aztec and Incan empires.