[1] Smallpox, which occurs only in humans, is classified as either variola minor or variola major. Variola minor has an overall fatality rate of 1% or less, whereas variola major has a fatality ...

There are two forms of smallpox: variola major, which is the more severe form, and variola minor, which is less common and generally less severe. Variola major had a mortality rate of about 30% ...

Smallpox infection can occur in a more severe form, variola major, where mucous membranes become hemorrhagic, and lesions are large and confluent on the body. This form is fatal and pregnant women ...

Smallpox, one of the biggest killers in history, is caused by a virus called variola. Variola causes a distinctive rash and is often lethal. The name variola comes from the Latin word for “spotted” ...

The continued existence of variola virus samples leave open the possibility, however remote, that it could be used in a biological attack. Destroying the remaining smallpox samples is an opportunity ...

Smallpox, or variola, virus has killed more human beings than any other infectious agent. Fortunately, smallpox virus has only one host-humans -- which made it possible to eradicate it. In 1967, the ...

Scientists retained stocks of the variola virus, which causes the disease, and stored them in secure laboratories in Atlanta, Georgia, and Moscow, Russia. A smallpox attack is just one of many ...

The US Institute of Medicine (IOM) has released a report asserting that stocks of live variola virus, the causative agent of smallpox, could be used to develop improved smallpox vaccines and ...