Today’s Misleading Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
Although smallpox was a uniquely human disease, its causative agent, variola virus, belongs to the genus of orthopoxviruses (“true pox” viruses), whose members include buffalopox, camelpox, cowpox, monkeypox, mousepox, rabbitpox, and raccoonpox. These viruses are generally named after their primary host, but some have turned out to be misnomers: Cowpox and monkeypox are actually carried by rodents and only occasionally infect cows or monkeys. The name “chickenpox” is also misleading: The virus infects only humans and is not a poxvirus at all but a member of the unrelated class of herpesviruses. (The word “chicken” in chickenpox may have been derived from the French word chiche, meaning chickpea, referring to the size of the lesion, or from the Old English word gicans, meaning itch; “pox” refers to any rash consisting of pustules, or skin lesions filled with pus.)
The dastardly, yet beautiful, variola virus:
And a man suffering from the dreadful disease circa 1881:
Culled from: Scourge: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox
Morbid Trinket… of the Future!
For those of you who are taking advantage of sudden and unexpected acceptability of adult coloring, the Mütter Museum has good news for you: a morbid coloring book will soon be on its way! They released a taste on their Facebook page.
