SmallPox
Variola virus causes smallpox. It is an orthopox virus and occurs in two strains, variola major and minor.
Saddam Hussein has worked on weaponizing smallpox (in fact he has tried to make a sort of biococktail mixing variola virus with anthrax), and although we have a vaccine, it is old and reflects an unmodified virus. There are currently about 2 million doses of the vaccine and tests are currently underway to determine the effectiveness of diluting the doses (1:10 and 1:6) to give us more in case there is an attack. We have not been continuing our research into vaccine development for this virus since the "global eradication" of smallpox in 1980. Funny, since we know Iraq has continued researching it. Smallpox constitutes the single greatest viral threat in a biological attack, even more so than Ebola since smallpox is transmissible by the aerosol route and so any confirmed case is considered an international emergency. (contrary to Hollywood, Ebola IS NOT AN AIRBORNE VIRUS and simple basic barrier nursing procedures can be followed.) Also, the 7-17 day incubation period, with high infectivity (only 10-100 organisms required) even BEFORE SYMPTOMS SHOW, gives this virus a 10 out of 10 on my fear factor. Too bad our governments don't feel the same way.
Smallpox Small pox infection is referred to as "centrifugal"
in such that the papules form on the extremeties first and not usually on
the trunk until a few days later.
Symptoms : begin with fever, malaise, vomiting, headache and backache. 2-3
days later the lesions appear which quickly progress from macules to papules
(small colored spots to small elevated spots), and eventually to pustular
vesicles.> 
Chicken
pox This is caused by a different virus, the varicella virus. It would
be visually difficult for public health personnel to distinguish between these
two viruses at the onset of an outbreak.
Ebola Outbreaks
The Ebola outbreaks, which cause hemmorrhagic fever, are generally the most
feared by the public due to their high death rates. However, it is hoped that
our public health authorities have been explained that direct contact with
bodily fluids is required, and as was seen this past year with the suspected
case of ebola in Ontario, our quarantine measures seem adequate. But even
if there is an outbreak in north america, death occurs too quickly to allow
for the virus to infect many people, unlike the great influenza pandemics.
(More people died from influenza in the 1918-1919 pandemic than from the Korean war, the Vietnam war, world war 1 and world war 2 put together...almost 20 million around the world.)
