What is the etiologic agent of smallpox?
Smallpox is caused by variola virus, genus Orthopoxvirus. Other members of this genus that can infect humans are vaccinia virus, monkeypox virus, and cowpox virus.
Is smallpox pic a virus?
Overview. Smallpox is a disease caused by the variola virus, a virus that is carried and transmitted only in humans.
What is the smallpox virus made of?
Smallpox is caused by the Variola virus, a member of the genus Orthopoxvirus. It’s genome consists of a single, linear double-stranded DNA molecule made up of 186,102 base pairs. There are 10 enzymes that regulate gene expression, as well as about 100 nucleoproteins involved in transcription of the DNA..
Is smallpox a biological agent?
No one has gotten smallpox naturally since 1977. However, it is possible that variola virus (the virus that causes smallpox) could be used in a biological attack (an intentional release of viruses, bacteria, or other germs that can sicken or kill people, livestock, or crops).
Is smallpox a virus bacteria or fungi?
Smallpox is an infection caused by the variola virus. For centuries, epidemics affected people all over the globe, and the disease was often serious. But in 1796, British doctor Edward Jenner discovered a way to protect people from getting smallpox, which led to the development of the first smallpox vaccine.
Is vaccinia the same as cowpox?
cowpox, also called vaccinia, uncommon mildly eruptive disease of animals, first observed in cows and occurring particularly in cats, that when transmitted to otherwise healthy humans produces immunity to smallpox. The cowpox virus is closely related to variola, the causative virus of smallpox.
What type of virus is smallpox?
Smallpox is an acute, contagious disease caused by the variola virus, a member of the genus Orthopoxvirus, in the Poxviridae family (see the image below). Virologists have speculated that it evolved from an African rodent poxvirus 10 millennia ago.
What are the four types of biological agents?
Biological agents include bacteria, viruses, fungi, other microorganisms and their associated toxins.
Is smallpox caused by bacteria?
Smallpox is caused by infection with the variola virus. The virus can be transmitted: Directly from person to person. Direct transmission of the virus requires fairly prolonged face-to-face contact.
What is another name for vaccinia?
Jenner referred to cowpox as variolae vaccinae (smallpox of the cow)….Vaccinia.
| Vaccinia virus | |
|---|---|
| Order: | Chitovirales |
| Family: | Poxviridae |
| Genus: | Orthopoxvirus |
| Species: | Vaccinia virus |
What is difference between cowpox and smallpox?
Cowpox is similar to, but much milder than, the highly contagious and often deadly smallpox disease. Its close resemblance to the mild form of smallpox and the observation that dairy farmers were immune to smallpox inspired the modern smallpox vaccine, created and administered by English physician Edward Jenner.
What is another name for smallpox?
smallpox, also called variola major, acute infectious disease that begins with a high fever, headache, and back pain and then proceeds to an eruption on the skin that leaves the face and limbs covered with cratered pockmarks, or pox.
Why is smallpox called smallpox?
Smallpox is an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus. It gets its name from the Latin word for “spotted,” referring to the raised, pustular bumps that break out over the face and body of those affected.
Is smallpox DNA or RNA?
The best-studied members of the Orthopoxvirus are the poxviruses (Poxviridae), DNA viruses that replicate in the cell cytoplasm [30]. These include smallpox viruses (Variola major and V.
What are the 6 biological agents?
Along with smallpox, anthrax, plague, botulism, and tularemia, hemorrhagic fever viruses are among six agents identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as the most likely to be used as biological weapons. Many VHFs can cause severe, life-threatening disease with high fatality rates.
Is cowpox a vaccinia?
Why is cowpox called cowpox?
Cowpox disease, which is evident in cows from ulcers on the teats, had been known as a disease of cows for hundreds of years; human cowpox occurred as a self-contained localized ulcer on the hands or at other sites where scratches or abrasions allowed entry of the virus.