The Massachusetts smallpox epidemic or colonial epidemic was a smallpox outbreak that hit Massachusetts in 1633. Smallpox outbreaks were not confined to 1633 however, and occurred nearly every ten years. Smallpox is caused by two different types of variola viruses: variola major and variola minor. The disease was hypothesized to be transmitted due to an increase in the immigration of European settlers to the region who brought Old World smallpox aboard their ships.
Smallpox defined
Smallpox, is known under scientific nomenclature as Variola virus. There are two strains of Variola virus, Variola major and Variola minor. The Variola major strain is the most common and is the strain that most likely wiped out indigenous and colonist populations during the 1633 epidemic. Variola major’s weaker sister, Variola minor, was less common and only results in approximately less than 1% of deaths related to smallpox. Smallpox is thought to be ancient, and it is not native to North America.
Signs and symptoms of smallpox
The virus is spread by airborne salivae, like from a cough or saliva on a bed sheet, and can only be spread from human to human. The first stage of infection is the incubation period. The incubation period is the preliminary stage of infection where there is no knowledge of someone having smallpox, there are no physical manifestations of illness during this period. The length of the incubation period is typically 10-14 days. Following the incubation period, initial symptoms start to appear, such as a fever. Within the next few days, they start to form a rash on their skin, and tongue, and can even be found in their mouth and throat. The rash sores then form into pustules which eventually scab over and fall off. Once all of the scabs have fallen off, the person is no longer contagious.
Colonization and the spread of Smallpox
Smallpox was not present in indigenous populations before the arrival of European settlers to the New World. Settlers likely brought smallpox and introduced the disease to the New World when coming on their ships. Indigenous populations had no previous encounters with smallpox, so the disease was considered an unexpected and severe killer of their peoples compared to the predominant nature and consistent presence of the disease within Europe and Asia.
Cases and deaths
There are no statistics on the number of cases of smallpox in the 1633 epidemic. Though there are rough estimates that after Europeans arrived to the New World, approximately 20 million people died.
European infection
Europeans brought smallpox to North America when they first began colonizing. Most Europeans were at least partially immune to the disease due to high levels of exposure from living conditions which were often in close contact with Iivestock and in areas with large human populations. However, 20 settlers on the Mayflower were infected including their only physician Samuel Fuller.
While the European settlers remained mostly unaffected by smallpox in 1630, they witnessed their Native American neighbors fall victim to it rapidly. A New England colonist in 1630 said the Native Americans "fell down so generally of this disease as they were in the end not able to help one another, not to make a fire, nor to fetch a little water to drink, nor any to bury the dead...". Yet despite the destruction wrought by smallpox, it was seen as a gift from God by some Puritans. Including Increase Mather, a clergyman and one of Harvard College's first presidents, who stated that the smallpox epidemic was God's solution to the Native American and Puritan land disputes.
Some Christian settlers in Boston thought that they caught smallpox from being religiously sinful.