How to Compare Chicken Pox & Small Pox

To compare smallpox to chickenpox, you should know the signs, symptoms, causes and effects of each disease. Smallpox and chickenpox both have signs and symptoms similar to the flu, including fever, malaise, nausea and loss of appetite. Smallpox and chickenpox are both caused by viruses. The chickenpox virus is rarely fatal, but smallpox can kill unvaccinated individuals.

Instructions

• 1

  Determine the symptoms of smallpox. Smallpox symptoms arise seven to 17 days after exposure and they include fever, chills, body aches, headache, nausea and vomiting. These symptoms persist two to four days. When the fever drops, a rash appears, indicating contagion. A person with smallpox is therefore considered contagious at the onset of fever.

• 2

  Determine the symptoms of chickenpox. Chickenpox symptoms appear eight to 20 days after exposure, and they include fever, nausea, headache and loss of appetite.The chickenpox rash appears shortly after the symptoms, one to two days later.

• 3

  Identify the rash. The chickenpox rash is composed of small, red circles with pus-filled blisters, and is very itchy. The smallpox rash is also a series of small, red circles, but there are no blisters at first. The blisters, known as pustules, appear through stages. A smallpox patient is contagious until all scabs are gone.

• 4

  Learn what causes smallpox. There are two main types of smallpox virus: variola major and variola minor. Variola major, the deadlier disease, carries a 30 to 50 percent fatality rate in unvaccinated individuals.

• 5

  Learn what causes chickenpox. Chickenpox is caused by the varicella-zoster virus. Part of the herpesvirus family, the chickenpox virus can also cause shingles in adults.

• 6

  Learn how smallpox is spread. Smallpox is spread mainly through the cough or sneeze of an infected person, as well as contact with smallpox scabs. World health leaders declared the smallpox virus eradicated in 1980, a result of effective vaccination programs worldwide.

• 7

  Learn how chickenpox is spread. Chickenpox is spread through the cough or sneeze of an infected person, or by contact with the open fluid-filled blisters that appear on a patient's skin.