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CC, do you know at what point small pox is contagious? I understand it has a ling incubation, followed by a few days of flu-like symptoms, them a rash appears on extremities and face, etc...Which stage is contagious, or are all?

Also, they now have those new anti bacterial hand washes that you can keep in the car, at your desk, etc.

I have a home defense/survival forum on my website. This link is to some info on gas masks. Gas Mask Info

We'll be putting up some more articles and info on MREs, chemical suits, first aid and other relevant topics. Feel fee to drop by the forum and add any info you feel will help those who have never been trained in the military or about survival and home defense.

My background is 7 years in the USAF Special Forces and many years of hunting and living off the land. There are also active military also posting in the forum. No experts, just what has worked for us and what hasn't.

Riri, what I know about smallpox mostly comes from reading historical fiction from the Revolutionary War period. Both sides of the battle were terribly stricken with this. Apparently it is spread by contact, flies, and so forth. The painful pustules that develop, then rupture, are filled with very contagious material. Some smart guys figured out that if you popped the pustules before they ruptured on their own and then infect people through a little scratch on their arm, they would develop just ONE pox at that site and would develop a healthy immune response before the infection became systemic. I have no idea if this works but I'm passing it along anyway. I know that the first smallpox vaccine was developed because a physician noticed that dairy workers who had had the much milder infection cowpox seemed immune to smallpox. He deliberately infected his own son with cowpox and later proved the boy protected from smallpox as well. Smallpox is no laughing matter. Those who survive were terribly scarred for life, and the infection completely debilitated or killed almost all who got it. This is what I know, and it's not based on any medical knowledge. I'm not a real Chemist, I just play one on FR and during frantic hour exams.