Post-Event
Operational Issues
Laboratory
Criteria for Diagnosis of Smallpox
Because smallpox
is no longer naturally occurring, the likelihood that a person
with a fever and a rash has smallpox is very low. Therefore, laboratory
confirmation of the initial outbreak of the disease is critical.
Laboratory confirmation would entail either PCR identification
of Variola DNA in a clinical specimen, or isolation of smallpox
virus from a clinical specimen followed by PCR confirmation (BSL
4 Lab with variola diagnostic capabilities).
|