Paul et al.:

A CDC website I just consulted says the most common form of transmission
is direct contact with respiratory droplets from the infected person; much
rarer is airborne transmission of such droplets over greater distances;
also documented is the possibility of transmission via clothing or bedding
bearing dried respiratory or lesion secretions. One of the problems with
sending or delivering infected blankets, as Harold Forsythe noted, is that
there was no way to ensure that the bearers of these "gifts" would not be
infected instead of the intended recipients.

Douglas Deal
Professor of History and Chair of History Department
State University of New York at Oswego
Oswego, NY 13126
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(315)-312-5632




On Wed, 8 Mar 2006, Paul Finkelman wrote:

> I have a question on this.
>
> Does anyone know the science here?  Can the small pox virus "live" in a
> blanket; or does it need a live host; can a  blanket be "infected"?
>
> Paul FInkeloman
>
> Douglas Deal wrote:
>
> >Tom Apple wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >>I'm pretty sure that that the use of infected blankets to spread smallpox has
> >>proven to be a myth. The one instance of blankets given to the Indians that
> >>alledgedly had been infected was at Fort Pitt during the French and Indian
> >>War. Some blankets from the hopsital were give as gifts because those were
> >>the only extra blankets available. The ability of a few blankets to even be
> >>able to spread the pathogen has been questioned. The most likely cause of
> >>spread of smallpox in that instance occured when the Indians scalped those
> >>who had already died of smallpox putting them in direct contact with an
> >>active pathogen from the blood.
> >>
> >>Other than that one alledged incident where the Indians were given blankets
> >>and there were people infected with smallpox present, there have been no
> >>other documented incidents that Indians were given infected blankets to
> >>deliberately spread the disease.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >This is probably *not* a myth. See the refs to Jeffrey Amherst and other smallpox
> >related episodes in the following H-West exchange from 1995:
> >http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~west/threads/disc-smallpox.html
> >
> >Doug Deal
> >History/SUNY Oswego
> >
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> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Paul Finkelman
> Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law
> University of Tulsa College of Law
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