What can I claim secondary to smallpox?
3 conditions in the Repatriation Medical Authority's Statements of Principles list smallpox as a factor. If DVA has accepted your smallpox, each of these has a documented pathway to a further claim.
At a glance
- Accepted conditionSmallpox
- Conditions it may open3
- SourceRMA SoPs
- Chart Review$600 + GST
How a secondary claim works
Some Statement of Principles factors are not about service at all — they name another condition. Where DVA has already accepted your smallpox, and another condition's SoP lists smallpox as a factor, that part of the next claim is already established on your file. How a secondary claim works, in full →
Conditions that list smallpox as a factor
Quoted from the instrument. A pathway existing is not the same as a claim succeeding — each factor carries thresholds your record has to satisfy.
Blepharitis
RH No. 29 of 2019 · BoP No. 30 of 2019
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (4): “having a smallpox immunisation within the two weeks before the clinical onset of blepharitis” [clinical onset]
Balance of Probabilities — factor (3): “having a smallpox immunisation within the two weeks before the clinical onset of blepharitis” [clinical onset]
Myocarditis
RH No. 17 of 2024 · BoP No. 18 of 2024
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (18): “having smallpox vaccine within the 4 weeks before clinical onset or clinical worsening” [onset and worsening]
Balance of Probabilities — factor (17): “having smallpox vaccine within the 4 weeks before clinical onset or clinical worsening” [onset and worsening]
Pericarditis
RH No. 90 of 2023 · BoP No. 91 of 2023
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (30): “having smallpox vaccine within the 4 weeks before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis” [onset and worsening]
Balance of Probabilities — factor (29): “having smallpox vaccine within the 4 weeks before the clinical onset or clinical worsening of pericarditis” [onset and worsening]
Other accepted conditions that also open blepharitis
If any of these is also on your file, it reaches some of the same conditions smallpox does.
What DVA means by smallpox
A claim is tested against the definition first. If the diagnosis on your file does not meet this wording, the factors below never get reached — so it is worth checking that what your doctor wrote matches what the instrument requires.
Smallpox, for the purposes of the Statement of Principles, for the purposes of this Statement of Principles, smallpox means a clinical illness caused by infection with the variola virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus, which has been confirmed by laboratory testing. Symptoms and signs may include an acute onset of fever, prostration, headache, body aches and a vesicular or pustular rash. (3) While smallpox attracts ICD-10-AM code B03, in applying this Statement of Principles the meaning of smallpox is that given in subsection (2). (4) For subsection (3), a reference to an ICD-10-AM code is a reference to the code assigned to a particular kind of injury or disease in The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM), Ninth Edition, effective date of 1 July 2015, copyrighted by the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority, ISBN 978-1-76007-020-5.
Aggravation-only factors. In this instrument, subsections 9(3) apply only to material contribution to, or aggravation of, smallpox where it was already present before or during service. If service caused smallpox outright, those factors are not available to you.
RH No. 89 of 2016 · BoP No. 90 of 2016 · 3 factors
Reviewed by Dr Thomas Perkins
Founding doctor, Veterans Health Centre · former RAAF aviation medical officer · 13 years working exclusively with ADF members and veterans. Full profile →
Smallpox accepted?
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