Smallpox is caused by the , is believed to have existed for at least three thousand years, and was fatal in up to thirty percent of cases. Edward Jenner made the first successful vaccine against it in seventeen ninety-six, after noticing that milkmaids who had caught did not catch smallpox. A vaccine is not the same as an end. What finished it?
An intensified plan, and thirteen years of it. The World Health Organization launched one in nineteen sixty-seven, and widespread immunization and ran worldwide for several years. The last known natural case occurred in Somalia in nineteen seventy-seven. In nineteen eighty the WHO declared smallpox , which remains the only infectious disease to reach that status.
Smallpox was one of the most devastating diseases known, killing millions before it ended and fatal in up to thirty percent of cases. It is believed to have existed for at least three thousand years. Early symptoms were high fever, fatigue and severe back pain. Within two or three days came a rash that began on the face and hands and spread, with lesions ulcerating in the nose and mouth.
The first countermeasure arrived long before the campaign. Edward Jenner created the smallpox vaccine in seventeen ninety-six, the first successful vaccine ever developed. He had observed that milkmaids who previously caught cowpox did not catch smallpox, and showed that a similar inoculation could protect others.
The World Health Organization launched an intensified plan to eradicate the disease in nineteen sixty-seven. Widespread immunization and surveillance ran around the world for several years. The last known natural case was in Somalia in nineteen seventy-seven, and in nineteen eighty the WHO declared smallpox eradicated.
What followed was a long argument about the last stocks. In nineteen ninety-six the World Health Assembly decided to destroy them in June of nineteen ninety-nine. Only small samples would stay, for research at two designated secure laboratories, one in the United States and one in the Russian Federation. Those stocks are still there, overseen by an advisory committee that meets annually, alongside a vaccine stockpile kept against the unlikely event that the disease returns.
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One disease out of all of them has been removed from the world, which makes the campaign that did it the most instructive thing in public health rather than merely the most celebrated.
How do we know?
The World Health Organization’s health topic page on smallpox sets out the disease, the eradication campaign, the declaration of nineteen eighty and the arrangements governing the remaining virus stocks.
What is still unknown
A WHO topic page, which states the outcome and the current arrangements rather than the field work. It also makes clear the story is not closed, since live virus still exists under supervision.
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