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).

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