Everyone Died: Hemorrhagic Smallpox

The Purples

Hemorrhagic smallpox, once called “the purples,” was the rarest form of the disease. It was a death sentence.

• Susceptibility ran in families and may be genetic
• Pregnant women were also at high risk

 
There were two generally recognized types:

Early Hemorrhagic Smallpox

• 100% fatal
• The rash was a thick, velvety reddish-purple, which led to its folk-name of The Purples.
• Victims died on or about the sixth day, before blisters ever broke out: thus the name “Early.”

Late Hemorrhagic or “Flat” Smallpox

• About 97% fatal
• Rather than rising, pustules sank into the skin, which made them appear flat, ringed by dark circles.
• Victims bled at nose, eyes, vagina, and anus. Old descriptions tell of victims weeping, peeing, and shitting blood.

All About Smallpox: Next

People would dare just about anything to avoid it…
 
 

*For more common forms of the disease, see my posts on discrete and confluent smallpox.

Photo by J. B. Byles, in Thomas Francis Ricketts, The Diagnosis of Smallpox (London, 1908)