SMALLPOX 219 



Recent researches seem to prove that the small- 

 pox germ multiplies in the epithelial cells of that 

 portion of the skin which is involved in the pustules 

 which are characteristic of the disease. This germ is 

 extremely minute and it has not been cultivated in 

 artificial media. It does not belong to the same class 

 as the germs of typhoid fever, cholera, diphtheria, 

 etc. (the bacteria), but to the protozoa. 



It is generally recognised that smallpox patients 

 must be isolated and cared for by immune attendants, 

 and that clothing and all articles exposed to infection 

 must be thoroughly disinfected. This is especially 

 important, as the infectious agent or germ is given off 

 from the general surface of the body, attached to 

 epithelium, pus cells, etc. This infectious agent may 

 retain its capacity for harm (vitality) for months in 

 spite of desiccation. An instance is given by Dr. 

 Buck, of New York, in which an unvaccinated infant, 

 when two months - old, contracted smallpox in the 

 room in which it was born and in which a case of 

 smallpox had occurred two years previously. 



The danger of infection from a patient before the 

 eruption has developed is very slight if any and it is 

 chiefly through pus and scabs which are formed at a 

 later stage of the disease that the malady is propa- 

 gated. The time which elapses after exposure before 

 the first symptoms of the disease are manifested is 



