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"Patient zero is infected with a strain of variola major that escaped from a lab. Humanity eradicated it 30 years ago. They have detailed knowledge about it and powerful vaccination programs. Will this be able to stop one of the deadliest diseases humanity has ever known?" — Plague Inc., Smallpox introduction paragraph. |
Smallpox is one of the available scenarios in the game. The scenario starts off with a virus pre-evolved with Droplets 1, Nausea, Fever, Sweating, Coughing, Sneezing, Pneumonia, Pustules, Systemic Infection, Skin Lesions and Rash. Due to the severity of pustules and lethality of systemic infection, it is hard to keep a low profile within the start of the game. Also, a new government action labeled "(Country name) starts Smallpox vaccination programme" is available and is tagged red in the News. Vaccine Shields can be evolved to increase effectiveness in vaccinated countries.
Transmissions
| Droplets 1 - Pathogen suspended in expelled liquid particles from victim. Increase infectivity, especially on planes (Note - Already evolved from start.) |
| Droplets 2 - Pathogen accelerates replication whilst in expelled droplets. Increased infectivity, especially on planes. |
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Droplets 3- Pathogen able to survive for longer in expelled droplets. Increase infectivity, especially on planes. |
| Blood 1 - Gives organism ability to spread through blood-to-blood contact. Increases infectivity, especially in poor regions and mutation chance. |
| Blood 2 - Infected bodily fluids able to pass through mucous membranes. Increases infectivity, especially in poor regions and mutation chance. |
| Extreme Hematophagy - Pathogen uses host lymphocytes to replicate. Increases infectivity, especially in poor regions and mutation chance. |
| Insect 1 - Insects susceptible to infection. Carrier insects increases infectivity, especially in hot climates and chance of mutation. |
| Insect 2 - Increases rate of transfer between insects. Increases infectivity, especially in hot climates and chance of mutation. |
| Fomites 1 - Pathogen survives outside the body transmitted via external objects. Increases infectivity, especially in wealthy and urban environments. |
| Fomites 2 - Pathogen able to survive on increased variety of surfaces. Increases infectivity - especially in wealthy and urban environments. |
| Water 1 - Pathogen can survive outside the body in fresh, warm water. Increases infectivity, especially in humid environments and ship transmission. |
| Water 2 - Pathogen able to survive in chemically treated water. Increase infectivity, especially in humid environments and humid transmission. |
| Air 1 - Gives pathogen ability to travel on dust particles. Increase infectivity, especially in arid environments and plane transmission. |
| Air 2 - Gives organism ability to survive suspended in air for a long time. Increases infectivity, especially in arid environments and plane transmission. |
| Extreme Bioaerosol - Pathogen bypasses air/water filters due to adaptive cellular shell. Increase infectivity, especially in humid & arid climates and plane/ship transmission. |
Symptoms
| Tier 1 | |
| Nausea | Irritated stomach lining leads to discomfort. Slight chance of infection when kissing. |
| Coughing | Chance of infection by spreading pathogen into surroundings, especially in high density, urban areas. |
| Rash | Flat red spots start in the mouth and spread to the rest of the body. |
| Corneal Ulceration | Pustules form on the surface of the eye, causing inflammation and can trigger blindness. Severe and slows work on cure. |
| Hyper sensitivity | Increases likelihood of allergic reactions which can distract the immune system. Rich regions particularly vulnerable |
| Tier 2 | |
| Sneezing | Fluid discharge through sneezing, greatly increases infection rates. |
| Vomiting | The expulsion of infected material through projectile vomiting increases the risk of infection. |
| Immune Suppression | Pathogen attaches to lymphocytes, suppressing immune system and allowing significantly greater freedom of mutation. Can be lethal. |
| Skin Lesions | Lesions on the limbs and face become raised and sores break open in the mouth, significantly increasing infectivity. |
| Sweating | The loss of fluid through sweating also increases infection rates due to poor hygiene. More dangerous to cold countries. |
| Inflammation | |
| Purpura |
Abilities
Unique abilities
| White Pox 1 | Pathogen partially regresses to the milder strain Variola minor. Adopted characteristics reduce severity and lethality. |
| White Pox 2 | Pathogen fully regresses to the milder strain Variola minor, significantly reducing severity and lethality. |
| Black Pox | Significant decrease in coagulation factors and platelets give ability to develop highly lethal haemorrhagic smallpox. It unlocks a special tier of symptoms that are very lethal. |
| Vaccine Shield | Pathogen introduces key genetic variations that renders the smallpox vaccine useless. It also reduces infectivity. (Referred to as Vaccine shield in Mutation 7) |
| EJ2 Vaccine Shield | Further genetic variations render the experimental EJ2 strain smallpox vaccine ineffective (Referred to as β in Mutation 7) |
| EJ7 Vaccine Shield | Further genetic variations render the experimental EJ7 strain smallpox vaccine ineffective (Referred to as Δ in Mutation 7) |
| EJ13 Vaccine Shield | Further genetic variations render the experimental EJ13 strain smallpox vaccine ineffective (Referred to as Ω in Mutation 7) |
Advantages
Smallpox starts with high initial infectivity and base lethality, making spreading the disease and killing its host far easier and faster.
Disadvantages
Smallpox also has really high severity in the start, making it easily noticeable and countries with react quick against it. In addition to cure, it also need to defend itself against vaccination with relatively expensive vaccine shields. Reducing the base lethality of the disease also require evolving White Pox, as well as constantly devolving any lethal symptoms.
Strategies
Please see Smallpox Strategy Guides.
Trivia
- In real life, the WHO certified the global eradication of Smallpox in 1979, making it the only human infectious disease that has been completely eradicated to this day, unlike Black Death, which still has existing vaccines.
