What’s the treatment for smallpox?

There is no proven treatment for smallpox, but research to evaluate new antiviral agents is ongoing. Patients with smallpox can benefit from supportive therapy such as intravenous fluids, medicine to control fever or pain and antibiotics for any secondary bacterial infections that may occur. Vaccinia immune globulin (VIG) can be used primarily to treat complications of smallpox vaccination. VIG could also be offered to persons exposed to smallpox as a prophylaxis. However, VIG must be given before their lesions began to develop, and it is most effective when given with smallpox vaccination.

If the smallpox vaccination is given within 1-4 days of exposure to the disease, it may prevent illness, or at least lessen the degree of illness associated with the disease. Treatment, once the disease symptoms have started, is limited. There is no agent that has been specifically made for treating smallpox. Sometimes antibiotics are given for secondary infections that may occur. Vaccinia immune globulin (antibodies against a disease similar to smallpox) may help shorten the disease.

If a diagnosis of smallpox were made, exposed persons would need to be isolated immediately. The isolation would include not just the person who contracted the disease, but all other face-to-face contacts with that person. These individuals would need the vaccine and need to be monitored. Emergency measures to protect a broader segment of the population would have to be implemented immediately, within the recommended guidelines from the CDC and other federal and local health agencies.

More information on smallpox