| Smallpox is a highly contagious disease. An infected person transmits the smallpox virus via tiny droplets released into the air from coughing or sneezing. Another person can become infected by inhaling the virus-laden droplets. Severe headache, backache, chills, and high fever of 40°C (104°F) or more typically develop about 12 days after infection. In addition, a painful rash appears over the entire body. Smallpox patients are most contagious during the week following the appearance of the rash. By about the 12th or 13th day after symptoms first develop, fever and discomfort subside and the smallpox rash forms crusty scabs that eventually fall off to leave deep pitted scars. |
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