Smallpox Prevention
Learn
- Overview
- What It Is
- Causes
- Risk Factors
- Diagnosis
- Symptoms
- Prognosis
- Living With
- Complications
- User Questions
Take Action
- Screening
- Medications
- Prevention
- Treatment
- Alternative Treatment
- Care Guide
- Questions for Your Doctor
- When to Contact a Doctor
- Find a Doctor
- Resource Guide
How to Prevent Smallpox
Many people were immunized prior to 1972. That protection has likely worn off or decreased. Routine vaccination is not recommended in the US.
An emergency supply of the vaccine is kept. A vaccination within four days of exposure may prevent the disease. It can also make symptoms less severe. Anyone in close contact with a patient after the fever has started should receive the vaccine. Medical and emergency personnel also should be given the vaccine.
Two weeks or more could elapse before the first symptoms occur. The success of an attack would depend on the dose that was inhaled. Experts predict most of the released viruses could live in dry, cool air, without sunlight, for up to a day. Each person infected would likely pass the disease to 10 to 20 other people. Those people, in turn, could spread it to others. The fatality rate in naturally occurring smallpox is 30% or higher.
