Smallpox (Kingdom, America, Articles, Zen, disease)

[Saw11_2000]

For some reason I thought of this while I was reading the thread on AIDS. If smallpox was released on a mass-scale, what do you think would happen? There was a show on in January that did just this. I'll start with mine.

Scenario: Terrorists release smallpox in Paris, France at 10:00PM on August 21, 2021. Everything from here on is you.

Quickly, a few people are infected with smallpox. Several of them go home and infect their families, while one person boards a flight to London. No symptoms as of yet. At 12:05AM, Paris Police receive a call of a suspicious package, dispatches HAZMAT teams. 4:00AM, Paris receives word that this package is carrying the smallpox virus.

By 7:00AM, police quarantine the area around the package. At the same time, the airline passenger leaves his hotel room after contaminating the plane, some parts of the terminal, and his hotel room. September 2, 2021, all of the infected begin to exhibit symptoms of a flu-like virus. Half go to work like this, and spread the virus to 50 co-workers each. The total infected is about 600. Paris, noticing no one nearby has come down with any symptoms, decides to take the area out of quarantine. More people are infected including co-workers families, people who traveled on the plane, and in the hotel room. The infected is about 2,400.

Two days on September 4, 2021, a hospital in London reports a confirmed case of smallpox, and the hospital is immediately quarantined. Within hours, 20 more cases are reported. Over the next two days, slowly, the 2,400 infected become very ill. Fatality rate is at 25%. The hospital staff becomes infected. People in the waiting room transfer it to more people.

Some people board flights to North America. The populations of Paris and London get infected. The amount of infected has increased to 25,000 in two weeks. Hospitals are breeding grounds for smallpox. The first case in North America is reported, and the US and Canada shut down all international flights to and from their countries. Several cases of smallpox have been reported in Mexico, and illegal immigrants cross the border infecting several people in Arizona.

Worldwide the infected climbs to 50,000. 12,500 people are dead. Economies shut down, hospitals are overcrowded, governments are shattered. The infection spreads from Arizona to New Mexico, and California, and soon the entire Southwest United States. A trucker carries the virus into Canada, and the illness goes un-noticed until the trucker visits the hospital with flu-like symptoms infecting the doctor, nurses and other patients. Two days later, he is dead, and 250 people in Canada are infected.

--One year later--

200 million people are dead. London, Paris, New York, and Niagra Falls see their population drop by 10%. Worldwide, the virus has spread to every continent (but Antarctica). Economies are devestated, the loss of life slows technology advancement by years. Countries are still trying to wipe out the virus, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom administer smallpox vaccinations to every citizen. France is no longer a country, and has been quarantined from the rest of the world.

Someone else?

[fromthe heart]

One word...sadness!

[Saw11_2000]

Originally Posted by fromthe heart

One word...sadness!

It's never supposed to happen, just if it were to happen.

[Druidus]

We still have cowpox around. We'd use that to perform mass innoculations.

[Seyorni]

A Smallpox epidemic would, indeed, be a catastrophic event. Bur remember: A -- we have an effective vaccine that could quickly be administered. B-- Smallpox was a well-known disease for hundreds of years, with no effective treatment, yet mankind was not wiped out.

[Druidus]

You know what would be worse? A smallpox that was higly contagious aith a 75% chance of mortality. Imagine the worst form of ebola being able to travel as airborn particles successfully. That would be bad.