The weeping mother, an unusual source of variola virus

Smallpox virus was isolated from the conjunctiva of 3 out of 4 patients with conjunctivitis during the clinical disease, from none of 5 patients with conjunctivitis in the scabbing stage, and from the conjunctiva of all seven mothers, whose children died of smallpox. In these mothers, the conjunctivitis was the only clinical manifestation of the infection.