Smallpox is a very dangerous and in almost all cases fatal disease. There are two types of smallpox: variola major and variola minor. Variola major is made up of four categories: ordinary (this is the most common), flat and hemorrhagic. Variola Major has an overall mortality rate of only 30%. Flat and Hemorrhagic are the two deadliest types of Variola major. Smallpox appears as a very red, swollen, raised rash. Smallpox is a very dangerous and contagious disease that has been present throughout history until recently (the last epidemic case of smallpox occurred on October 26, 1977 in Somalia). Smallpox is a very contagious disease that lasts about 41 days, 24 of which days are mildly to severely contagious. Variola is spread from person to person through contact, prolonged face-to-face contact, contact with body fluids or pustule crusts, and in extreme cases the pathogen can become an airborne pathogen. The smallpox virus is transmitted from human to human, and it is not known whether other animals and/or insects can directly transmit the smallpox virus to humans. There have been many cases where people have confused the variola virus with other viruses. For example, S Rickettsiella scar is a deadly disease that is almost identical to smallpox but is not as deadly and somewhere on the body a small S-shaped scar (about the size of a mole) appears. There is a live culture of smallpox kept in America in Atlanta, Georgia, in a very secure facility. There is also one preserved in Novosibirsk, Russia. Many world leaders fear that the next weapon will be biochemical terrorism. Smallpox can become an airborne pathogen that could cause the most damage in a terrorist attack. From the moment the virus enters... in the middle of the card... the possibility of an attack causing damage completely ends. Works Cited Dowshen, Steven. "Smallpox." KidsHealth: The most visited children's health site on the web. The Nemours Foundation, January 1, 2013. Web. April 22, 2014. ."More imagesSmallpox." CDC Smallpox Center. Np, nd Web. April 21, 2014. “Small Pox: MedlinePlus.” United States National Library of Medicine. United States National Library of Medicine, nd Web. April 23, 2014. .Spillius, Alex. “‘We must maintain smallpox supplies,’ US and Russia tell World Health Organization.” The telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 18 August 1929. Web. 23 April. 2014. .