WEBVTT - Ep 3 Gnarlypox 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:07.880 The red areas spread into blotches across the face and arms, 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:10.840 and within hours the blotches broke out into seas of 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:14.960 tiny pimples. They were sharp, feeling not itchy, and by 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:20.080 nightfall they covered the face, arms, hands, and feet. Pimples 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:21.919 were rising out of the soles of the feet and 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:24.760 on the palms of the hands too. During the night, 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:28.600 the pimples developed tiny blistered heads, and the heads continued 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:32.080 to grow larger, rising all over the body at the 0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:35.560 same speed, like a field of barley sprouting after the rain. 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:40.479 They hurt dreadfully, and they were enlarging into boils. They 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:44.400 had a waxy, hard look, and they seemed unripe. Fevers 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:48.120 soared abruptly and began to rage. The rubbing of pajamas 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:51.360 on the skin felt like a roasting fire. By dawn, 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:54.440 the body had become a mass of knob like blisters. 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:58.960 They were everywhere all over, but clustered, most thickly on 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:02.560 the face and extreme. The inside of the mouth and ear, 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:06.200 canals and sinuses had pustulated. It felt as if the 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:08.960 skin was pulling off of the body, that it would 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:12.600 split and rupture. The blisters were hard and dry, and 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.640 they didn't leak. They were like ball bearings embedded in 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:18.480 the skin, with a soft, velvety feel on the surface. 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:22.080 Each pustule had a dimple in the center. They were 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:26.679 pressurized with an opalescent puss. The pustules began to touch 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:29.920 one another, and finally they merged into confluent sheets that 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:33.440 covered the body like a cobblestone street. The skin was 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.560 torn away across the body, and the pustules on the 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:39.839 face combined into a bubbled mass filled with fluid, until 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:44.000 the skin of the face essentially detached from its underlayers 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:49.200 and became a bag surrounding the tissues of the head. Tongue, gums, 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:53.000 and hard palate were studded with pustules, the mouth dry. 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:56.640 The virus had stripped the skin off the body, both 0:01:56.680 --> 0:02:00.560 inside and out, and the pain seemed almost beyond the 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:03.080 capacity of human nature to endure. 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:20.320 Hi, Hi, Welcome to episode three of this podcast Will 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:20.760 Kill You. 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:23.959 This week we're talking about smallpox. 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:26.960 Clearly that was smallpox. 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:31.760 Yeah, it's horrifying, Oh my god. And that quote was 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:34.680 from The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston. 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:36.200 Wow. 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:38.880 So how about a little something to take the edge off. 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:40.480 Yeah, let's take that edge off. 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:42.640 What are we drinking this week today? 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:48.040 We're drinking smallpox on the rocks. That's gross. 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.160 Yeah, I don't know if I want to drink that anymore. 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:53.360 It's you know, it takes the edge off. 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:57.080 Yeah, sure, sure. What's in smallpox on the rocks? 0:02:57.120 --> 0:02:59.040 Basically, it's a whiskey sour. 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:03.240 Sign me up. That's pretty signed up. 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:07.640 It's if you'd like to drink along at home, you 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:10.280 can make your own smallpox on the rocks by mixing 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:12.440 two ounces of. 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:14.560 Your favorite whiskey wood. 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:16.520 That's the Kentuckians. 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:17.200 That's my plug. 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.600 She's she would know, you know, like she does know. 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:25.359 But you know, let's go with bourbon and the juice of. 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:29.200 Half a lemon, which is literally every recipe and I 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.240 looked it up. It's about three tablespoons of lemon juice. 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:33.080 That's the juice of. 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:34.880 No, that's that's a juice of a whole lemon. 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:37.920 You're right, So it's one and a half tablespoons of lemon. 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:41.520 I maybe more is better. We did it one and 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:48.560 a half tablespoons per two ounces of bourbon and about. 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.320 A half a teaspoon of sugar. Shake it up over ice, 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:52.560 drink it on the rocks. 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:54.920 Cheers, cheers. 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:58.360 I wonder what that sounded like. I don't know. It 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:07.160 was good better clinking glasses. Yeah, let's define a few 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.080 words for this week. What are the words that we're 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:11.040 gonna be defining this week. 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:13.280 Let's start with endemic. 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:17.600 So, in terms of disease, endemic is a disease that 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:21.200 is regularly found among a particular people or in a 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:25.240 certain area. So, for example, there are certain areas of 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:29.279 the world where malaria is considered endemic, and if you 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.880 see malaria in those areas, that's sort of normal. Whereas 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.240 if you were to see malaria outside of those areas, 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:37.520 that would be considered an epidemic or an outbreak. 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:42.279 Gotcha, all right. Next one is bio terrorism. 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:46.800 Bioterrorism is pretty straightforward. It's essentially just terrorism that includes 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:51.880 the release of a biological toxic agent. That's it, clear 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:53.880 clear to me, clear as day. 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:57.640 Clear as day. Let's talk about what a reservoir is. 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:02.000 So a reservoir for disease is a long term host 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:06.560 of a pathogen that often do not show symptoms or 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:10.720 have sort of subclinical infections. So in leprosy, we talked 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:15.320 about armadillos armadillos are reservoirs for the leprosy bacteria. 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:16.520 Eradication. 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:21.159 Eradication is a fun one, a happy one. It's a 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:25.479 happy one. So eradication of a disease, according to the CDC, 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:31.320 is the permanent reduction to zero of worldwide incidents of 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:35.159 infection caused by a specific agent that is the result 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:39.240 of deliberate efforts in order to eradicate that disease to 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:42.760 the point where intervention measures are no longer needed to 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:46.920 control that disease. There are two diseases in the world 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:49.919 that have been eradicated, Aaron, What are those diseases? 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:56.000 Oh, smallpox, that's the topic of today. And actually the 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:58.120 other one, which you may not have heard of, it's 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:02.000 called render pest and it is a disease of cattle yep, 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:06.760 both domestic and wild, so ungillates, ungillates, and they're both gone. 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:12.920 So cool, awesome, go, and hopefully hopefully soon polio, guinea worm, 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:15.479 some of the other diseases will be also on that 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:19.640 list thanks to the Carter Foundation. Right, it's the Carter Foundation, 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:21.800 is it? I don't know, it's Jimmy Carter. Cool. Jimmy 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.200 Carter's doing a lot of work for eradication. 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:25.040 That's awesome for. 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:28.520 Those Yeah, he's awesome. Now that we've defined those terms, 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:33.200 let's jump into the biology. Aaron, tell me all about smallpox. 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:39.320 I'd love to Aaron. Okay, so smallpox, this one is 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:41.320 a doozy, no lie, this is I know. 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.440 I mean we were already hit pretty hard at the 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:44.960 beginning of this episode. 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:47.560 Just starting us off with a bang. So here are 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:51.760 the basics. Smallpox is a virus. Uh, it's a DNA virus. 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.920 So if you remember influenza was an RNA virus, right, 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:56.720 this is a little bit different. It is in a 0:06:56.760 --> 0:07:00.839 family of viruses known as the pox viruses. And I 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:04.560 feel the need to tell you that chicken pox is 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:05.679 not a pox virus. 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:07.400 That's an important clarification. 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:11.160 It really is. Chicken pox is caused by a herpes virus. 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:15.600 So it's a totally different family of viruses. But there 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:19.560 are a ton of other pox viruses besides smallpox. There 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:24.120 are pox viruses that infect basically every vertebrate that you 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:28.560 can think of. There is monkey pox, turkey pox, gerbil pox, 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:37.760 camel pox, dolphin pox, snake, there's crocodile pox, kangaroo. 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:39.640 I think I think we get the point. 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:42.760 Yeah, literally that that wasn't even the whole list. What 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:46.600 about fish, Well, there's dolphin pox. Dolphins aren't fish. 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:49.640 My gosh, are you serious? There actually is, actually is 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:50.360 dolphin pox. 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:53.600 That's not a lie. And then yeah, I mean reptiles 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:56.360 can get various poxes snake pox, so I think there 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:56.800 could be. 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.360 Fish pox is probably a really old family of virus. 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:05.160 Yes, there are also insect pox viruses, and those are 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:09.480 gnarly because insects don't have skin, so they basically turn 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:13.640 into a giant ball of pox jelly. It's gnarly. 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:16.960 I want to I want to google that. You should. 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:20.680 Let's let's post a picture of insect infected by some 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:21.360 sort of POxy. 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:26.680 It's just gonna be go, just do so. Small Pox 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:31.440 itself has two major forms, Variola major and Variola minor, 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:35.280 that are basically named because major is a major problem. 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:38.839 Minor was a minor problem. We're not really going to 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.959 get into the distinction for this episode. Most of what 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:46.160 you hear about in terms of the statistics about this 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:50.199 disease have to do with Veryola major. Okay, even though 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:54.319 there are pox viruses that can infect tons of other vertebrates, 0:08:54.480 --> 0:09:01.160 smallpox itself is an exclusively human specific virus. It likely 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:04.480 jumped into humans from some type of rodent we don't 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:07.840 know exactly what kind really. Yeah, it's most closely related 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:12.120 to a rodent pox virus, and this likely happened around 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.360 the time of the agricultural Revolution about ten thousand years ago, 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:18.880 but estimates really vary on that. It's not exactly clear 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:22.280 when this first happened. But the reason that we think 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:26.280 it likely was around the agricultural Revolution is because math 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:29.559 models have shown that this virus needs a really large 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:33.240 human population size in order to sustain itself. 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:38.040 So, but not just human population size, but human population density. 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:39.160 Exactly, exactly, Yes. 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:39.760 Okay, that's right. 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:42.640 Okay, So let's get into the disease itself. Yes, we've 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:46.160 already heard a little bit. It's just gonna get worse better, 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:49.040 I don't know, probably worse, yeah, and also better. I 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:50.560 mean it'll get worse and then it will get better. 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:52.000 We're not sure where we're gonna end up. 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:56.120 Well, we'll find out. So smallpox has an incubation period, which, 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:58.520 if you remember from the last episode, is the time 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:01.200 from when you're exposed to when you show symptoms is 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.760 about twelve days ten to fourteen days, but twelve days on. 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:06.080 Average, that's a long time. 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:09.080 It's a pretty long time. The one good thing, and 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:11.320 I really think this is the only good thing about 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:16.560 the smallpox virus no joke, is that it does not 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:20.560 tend to be infectious until you start showing symptoms, and 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:24.000 you are the most infectious. That is, you're shedding the 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:27.360 most virus when you have some of the more severe symptoms, 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:31.040 which are well, let's get into it, the progression of 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:35.680 the disease. So it starts off with fever and body 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:39.320 aches and sometimes vomiting. And this is not just a 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:41.720 typical fever in body aches. This is you are too 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:45.439 sick to continue on with your daily activities, and this 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:48.400 generally lasts for about two to four days. After that, 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:52.280 you'll get a rash and redness that generally starts on 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:56.320 the face, especially in your mouth and on your tongue. 0:10:56.400 --> 0:11:01.040 Oh no, yeah, so inside your mouth you'll get that 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:07.360 may break open and these sores are literally filled with 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:08.480 viral particles. 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:15.960 Oh yeah. So then when somebody is nursing you and 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:17.960 being like, oh, let me make you feel better, right, 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:20.480 and you turn to them and cough a little bit. 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:24.000 Yeah, So it's important. This is a respiratory virus. So 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:28.160 this is shed by breathing, coughing, et cetera. So, yeah, 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:31.240 if you're infected all up in your mouth and then 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:35.240 you're coughing on the people trying to help you, Bobo's Harley, 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:39.240 my gosh. So then the rash will spread to your body, 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:43.200 to your arms, to your legs. Unlike leprosy, this starts 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:44.720 sort of in the middle of your body and then 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:45.959 spreads outwards. 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:47.079 Right, Okay. 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:51.600 This stage generally lasts around four days, and it is 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:55.800 the most contagious part of this infection. Then you start 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:59.440 to get these lesions, these sores that are filled with fluid. 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.280 They can become really firm, and like you described earlier, 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:05.840 they get this characteristic dimple in the center. Then you'll 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:10.680 move on to the pustular rash and scab. Oh stage 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:15.400 stop please, I can't stop. I just can't. This is 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:21.600 described as peas under the skin, right, it's so disgusting. 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:24.839 They're sharply raised, they're firm to the touch. This lasts 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:26.280 for about ten days. 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:28.040 This is a long days. 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:29.360 This is a long infection. 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:31.280 Ten days of pea pimples. 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.520 Yes, And after about five days they'll start to crust over. 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:38.720 And I also want to point out that these sores 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:45.960 are literally covering your entire body, your entire body, confluent, yeah, 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:51.000 all over, confluent whatever, all over your body, these scabs, 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:54.080 and then eventually they'll begin to scab, and then they'll 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.520 fall off, and you continue to be infectious until the 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:00.680 last scab has fallen off your body. That's if you 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:01.240 survive that. 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:05.800 Long, and not only are you infectious, but your scabs 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:06.240 are too. 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:09.880 Exactly, so, if you imagine, like I mean today we 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.600 have when when was the vacuum invented? 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:16.360 The vacuum? Yeah, oh gosh, like the early nineteen hundred. 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:19.160 There you go. So imagine that you're cleaning up after 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:22.600 your you know, family member who is sick, and they're 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:24.480 dropping scabs all over the place, and then you go 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:27.520 to vacuum them up, and now you're spewing scab dust 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:30.720 into the air and then you breathe it in. That's real. 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:34.120 Or for instance, I just made that up. Blankets. Yeah, 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:36.440 you'll talk a lot about that. Yeah, I'll get into that. 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.600 So, yeah, that's if the person survives all this, they're 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:42.160 contagious for that entire time. 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:45.360 It's and how many people did survive this. 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:50.720 In general, the mortality rate is about twenty to forty percent, 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:54.640 usually considered about thirty percent, so on average, about one 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:56.880 in three people infected with smallpox will die. 0:13:57.240 --> 0:13:59.160 Oh my god. 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:00.680 Now it gets a little bit worse. 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:03.920 No, what I just. 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:08.360 Described was the progression of what is called ordinary smallpox. 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:12.680 Ordinary, that's the ordinary version. So that's if you were lucky. 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:15.240 This is the most this is the baseline. 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.240 This is the baseline exactly. So some people who were 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.600 vaccinated this is the good version, would end up with 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.840 what's called modified smallpox, which is basically a less severe form. 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.240 But a large number of people, not a large number, 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:31.480 about five to ten percent of cases would be what's 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:36.760 called malignant. These have a longer prodrome period, which is 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:39.000 the period at the beginning when you just have like 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:41.280 a fever and a mild rash. So they'd have a 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:42.360 longer period of that. 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:46.280 So it's not like they would be infectious longer. 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:49.480 Not necessarily no, But then when they started to get 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:52.840 a rash, the pustules that they would get were slower growing, 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:57.440 and they would stay flat rather than being raised, and 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.320 their skin would stay This is a quote from the 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:05.480 CDC Soft and velvety ew is that yucky? 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:07.920 What do you what does a velve What does velvet 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:08.680 skin feel like? 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:10.360 I don't know, but it doesn't sound good. 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.160 I don't think it's touching our faces. 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:19.080 I need to put lotion on. Yeah, but this form 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:23.320 of the disease is almost always fatal. And what's really 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:27.360 sad is about seventy two percent of the malignant cases 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:31.400 we're in children. Oh yeah, there's a worse one too. 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:35.960 The even worse one, how yeah, is called hemorrhagic small pots. 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:37.200 Oh okay, that's how yeah. 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:40.960 So hemorrhagic meaning bleeding out essentially, so instead of just 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:45.240 forming these pustubles under the skin, you would literally just 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:50.440 bleed underneath your skin. You'd bleed into your eyes. 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:52.040 And your skin would slough off. 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:56.680 Your skin would just be like puddles of blood like 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:59.280 your whole skin. You bleed into your eyes to the 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:03.120 point where the whites of your eyes would turn black 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:07.040 because they're just full of dried blood. You could even 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:11.200 get this might be getting too gnarly, but you could 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:15.320 even get your bleeding so much that in your capillaries 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:19.280 blood is clotting as it's leaking out, so you have 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:23.120 just blood clots and blood everywhere in your body, and 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:26.280 it's described as very thick and very dark. You would 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:29.280 bleed out of all of your mucous membranes, out of 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:30.800 every orifice. 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:33.880 People would turn purple yes exactly because there would be 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:35.920 so much skin exactly. 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:41.080 This is about two percent of cases overall, but somewhere 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:44.120 between three and twenty five percent of all fatal cases. 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:47.360 So this, as you can imagine, was almost always fatal. 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.720 Was do you know anything about why a case would 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:53.640 become hemorrhagic versus. 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:55.680 You know, I tried to find information about that, and 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.000 I really couldn't find good explanation. 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:00.480 Makes sense that there weren't. Yeah, I don't know. 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:05.080 If it's just immune related, that's what I would guess, 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:08.280 but I don't really know. Another thing to make all 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:12.760 of this that much worse is that people infected with smallpox. 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:16.439 You can imagine that if you're infected with a disease 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:20.000 that makes you this sick, you're probably not aware of 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:22.440 what's going on because your body is just in overload. 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:28.120 But with smallpox, you stay weirdly, very conscious and aware 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:30.040 of everything that's happening to you. 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:33.120 That would be horrible, I think. 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:34.960 Isn't that your actual worst nightmare. 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:37.439 It's one of them. Personally, I have a lot of 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:38.200 worst nightmare. 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:45.200 It's gnarley. Gnarley is the word of my read Yeah, 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:46.680 the most in my notes. 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:48.480 Yeah. 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:51.640 So that's smallpox in a nutshell. 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:02.919 Okay, So now that we have a let's call it 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:06.800 baseline understanding of just how awful this disease can be. 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:10.720 I really, I have to be honest, I did not 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:16.840 know just how horrible this disease was until I really 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:20.600 started reading about it. It is beyond anything that I 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:21.520 could have imagined. 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:22.960 It's really scary. 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:24.240 It's terrifying. 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:29.600 Let's hear more more, Let's hear about how terrifying it 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:31.919 was for people throughout history. 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:33.400 Let's learn. I want to learn it all. 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.399 So, like you said, the smallpox's iris probably made the 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:40.960 leap from domesticated animals or rodents. As it turns out, 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:44.560 about ten thousand years ago estimates. 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:47.600 Rodents were like when we domesticated animals, It's like we 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.600 practically domesticated rodents by accident because they were living in 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:52.959 all of like the grains and things that we started storing. 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:55.600 So we had huge booms in rodent populations. 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:59.320 Ex the same time, scientists aren't exactly sure which animal 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:03.720 it came from, but it probably originated in the same 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:08.720 place geographically that agriculture and livestock domestication took off, which 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.679 is the river valleys of Africa and India. And we 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:15.800 actually see our first physical evidence of smallpox from around 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:20.640 fifteen hundred to one thousand BC, what in Egyptian mummies 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:25.760 whose preserved skin shows telltale pock marks from the disease. 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:28.960 Oh my god, you can see the pock marks on 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:31.440 mummies actual, like on actual mummies. 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:33.040 Yeah, we're gonna post a picture. 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:34.520 Oh my god, that's so cool. 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:38.920 It's really cool. Smallpox is what we refer to as 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:41.879 a crowd disease. In order for the virus to successfully 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:46.119 establish in a population, there needs to be enough people 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:48.560 in close contact with one another so that it can 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:52.720 be transmitted and maintained. Otherwise it'll just blow through population 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:53.760 or village and. 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:57.440 Die out right because it just kills people like yeah, ooh, 0:19:57.520 --> 0:19:59.720 I hope that snap got sounded. 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:05.160 Yeah. Yeah. So it's no coincidence that smallpox started spreading 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:08.600 globally just as human population size took off thanks to 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:13.000 farming from India and northern Africa. It spread east and 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:18.359 west to China, Greece, Rome, et cetera. Around one hundred AD, 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:23.040 smallpox caused a devastating epidemic in the Roman Empire, and 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:28.159 this epidemic was called the plague of Antonius. Ooh yeah, 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:33.359 Like with the nineteen eighteen pan flu pandemic, soldiers returning 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:37.760 home were probably responsible for facilitating the spread of the 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:41.439 smallpox virus, always them soldiers. And at the height of 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:45.920 this particular epidemic, two thousand people died daily in Rome. 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:50.680 Oh my wow. Yeah, this is really bad. I feel 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:52.920 like there wasn't that many people in Rome. 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:53.920 Well that's the thing. 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:59.320 Some historians actually suggest that smallpox, along with malaria, contributed 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:02.200 to the fall of the Roman Empire. I love information 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:04.400 like that, I know, because no one really talks about 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:06.920 the role of infectious disease in history, or they do, 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:08.240 but it's not I feel like it's not. 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:10.560 As it's not as big of a deal as like 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:12.960 and then the three hundred people came and they the 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:14.359 people now or whatever. 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:17.440 Yeah, yeah, it's all about to talk about it. 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:19.919 It all comes back to infectious disease people. That's the 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:21.600 point of what we're trying to teach you here. 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:25.800 Yeah, it is after wreaking havoc in Rome, smallpox made 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:28.439 its way to the rest of Europe, probably through the 0:21:28.520 --> 0:21:33.439 Huns or returning crusaders around like the twelfth and thirteenth century. 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:34.240 Were the crusaders? 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:36.720 Okay, I was going to say, like, I don't know, Yeah, 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:37.159 I know, I know. 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:39.120 I had to look it up. The Crusaders. Yeah, that's 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:44.280 sure a time that happened well in either case. As 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:49.080 global population continued to grow, smallpox epidemics grew more frequent 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:53.120 and more intense, and in many areas it became endemic. 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:58.320 There's a word callback more of a childhood illness. Okay, 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:05.640 let's talk about Yeah, and he serious, because here comes 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:11.280 one of the most for me, classic small pox periods 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:16.320 of history. One of the things that history teachers in 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:19.600 high school at least tend to gloss over here in 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:23.679 the US is the devastating impact that small packs and 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:27.000 other Old World diseases had on the native North and 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:28.400 South American populations. 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:30.760 This is where it gets really depressing. 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:33.040 Yeah, it's gonna be that way for a while. Yeah yeah, 0:22:33.119 --> 0:22:33.840 buckle up. 0:22:34.040 --> 0:22:38.520 Buckled your history teacher, have another have just drink. 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:43.120 Drink up. Here's the time bottoms up. It's not yet. 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:47.840 It's just gonna get worse. Your history teacher may have 0:22:47.920 --> 0:22:51.720 forgotten to tell you how smallpox blankets were given to 0:22:51.840 --> 0:22:57.800 Native Americans intentionally by invading Europeans in an often successful 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:02.360