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Since I don't seem to be getting through, I'll try again.

From JAMA:

Historically, the rapidity of smallpox transmission throughout the population was generally slower than for such diseases as measles or chickenpox. Patients spread smallpox primarily to household members and friends; large outbreaks in schools, for example, were uncommon. This finding was accounted for in part by the fact that transmission of smallpox virus did not occur until onset of rash. By then, many patients had been confined to bed because of the high fever and malaise of the prodromal illness. Secondary cases were thus usually restricted to those who came into contact with patients, usually in the household or hospital.

You said in a freep mail to me:

It can be spread before pox appear and by aerosol means and that is what people want to know.

That is completely incorrect. I have now give 5 different references that state the same thing

Smallpox Scare At Sea-Tac Holds Plane For 2 1/2 Hours December 7, 2001 By KOMO Staff Email This Story SEATTLE - Eva Air's Flight 32, bound from Taiwan to Newark, N.J., was held for 2 1/2 hours at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Friday after an anonymous tipster told U.S. Customs Service agents there might be smallpox on board. A medic determined the passenger at issue - who was named by the tipster - did not have smallpox, airport spokesman Bob Parker said. The plane's 157 passengers and 14 crew were allowed to deplane at about 3:30 - some stretching their legs before continuing on to Newark, Parker said. The tipster called a New York Port Authority detective at JFK Airport about 30 minutes before the flight touched down in Seattle, said Cherise Miles, a spokeswoman for Customs in Chicago. The tipster identified a passenger by name and said the individual had smallpox, Miles said. The crew did an initial evaluation and determined the individual "did not have any symptoms of active contagious smallpox," said airport spokesman Bob Parker. That was subsequently confirmed by a firefighter-emergency medical technician with the Port of Seattle, which operates the airport, and an interpreter. Miles said the person suspected to have smallpox had been quarantined in the first class area, and the rest of the passengers were being held elsewhere on the plane. A spokeswoman for Taiwan-based Eva Air declined comment. The plane, which made its scheduled stop here shortly after 1 p.m., was to have left about 1:30 p.m. for Newark. Other airport operations were not affected, Parker said. Called-in threats "are not exactly uncommon," airport spokeswoman Katie Nowlin said, noting Sea-Tac has had 75 "white-powder incidents" since Sept. 11, none of which have involved any lethal substance. A nationwide smallpox vaccination program was discontinued in 1972, and the disease was eradicated worldwide by 1980. Two smallpox virus samples remain - one in the United States and the other in Russia. Concerns about security at the Russian lab have been exacerbated by the anthrax cases that followed the September terrorist attacks. Smallpox is contagious, and roughly 30 percent of those who contract it die. But the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently recommended no vaccinations be given unless an outbreak occurs THIS IS THE LATEST........I hope they are sure about this could a medic determine it this quick?

You are contradicting yourself all over the place.

I pointed out it can be passed via aerosol route, correcting an impression that it had to be after pox appeared. You confirmed it.

You go on to say that at that stage there will be a concommittant oral mucosal rash.

No argument or disagreement.

Now you seem to be saying there will be obvious skin lesions before theire is contagiousness.

You are all over the board.

There are two extremes, one that tries to scare people. The other that tries to downplay.

You seem to be doing the latter.

Let's try a different tratc because I think we are simply miscommunicating.

Is it possible that a person could infect another, prior to skin pox or skin rash, without knowing he has been infected with small pox?

I'm not asking without knowing they are sick. I'm not asking how likley it would be. Just is it possible and has it happened in the past.