North American Smallpox Epidemic

The North American Smallpox Epidemic (1775-82)

A report on the nature of losses and the complex set of factors that caused the disaster, based on our understanding of the concepts of risk and vulnerability.

Historical perspectives and introduction

The smallpox epidemic that devastated North America from 1775-82 is one of the worst cases of disease outbreaks that the world has ever experienced. It coincided with the American Revolutionary war and hugely aggravated the effects of this contagious disease.

Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by the Variola major virus, though a much milder form of the disease was also caused by the Variola minor virus. The disease spreads when healthy individuals inhale droplets of saliva from infected

At times the concepts have been used interchangeably without trying to understand the underlying factors. They have also been associated with a single cause that is to understand a physical phenomenon which was inevitable, as well as uncontrollable at the same time. Much clarity has now been arrived at understanding these two concepts. Vulnerability can be defined as the internal risk factor that a subject or system is exposed to while dealing with an external factor like hazard or other life changing situations. These internal risk factors or intrinsic factors can be defined as defencelessness or ability to cope. In terms of analysing vulnerability, it can be segregated into physical, economical, political and social vulnerability. But one thing we need to understand is that, vulnerability cannot be separated from the daily life. Often series of permanent, extreme and life threatening conditions exist that make certain social groups highly vulnerable, especially in terms of their livelihood activities. It is also a reflection of the development that has been attained or the development or its type that needs to be

Small pox has been present in America for a long time, as it had come with the European settlers, and America had faced previous small pox epidemics as well. But this time the internal factors of vulnerability increased its scale to a much larger extent.

The other ways of looking at this historical event, would be from the point of view of the Pressure and Release (PAR) model and Access Model. This is a good way to understand risk in terms of vulnerability analysis for specific hazards.

The PAR Model helps us to understand how the concomitant factors of hazard and vulnerability, gives rise to disaster risk. The image of this model resembles a nutcracker, with people in the centre, and vulnerability and hazard on either side. This creates the Pressure on the population; and on the other side of the equation is Release, which are ways to decrease this pressure on the population by decreasing the factors that lead to vulnerability. (Ben Wisner,