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Vocapedia > Health, Medicine > Viruses
Variola - eradicated in the 1970s
Smallpox disease
smallpox UK
An ancient disease in existence for thousands of years, smallpox was feared throughout the world.
Killing a third of those it infected, in the 20th Century alone an estimated 300 million people died from the disease.
Those who were infected but survived were often left badly scarred.
A global vaccination programme, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), was carried out to wipe out the disease and by the 1970s cases were rare. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-45101091 - 10 August 2018
https://www.who.int/csr/disease/smallpox/en/ https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-45101091 - 10 August 2018
https://www.theguardian.com/science/1999/feb/26/
smallpox virus
Smallpox is an ancient disease caused by the variola virus.
Early symptoms include high fever and fatigue.
The virus then produces a characteristic rash, particularly on the face, arms and legs.
The resulting spots become filled with clear fluid and later, pus, and then form a crust, which eventually dries up and falls off.
Smallpox was fatal in up to 30% of cases.
Smallpox has existed for at least 3,000 years and was one of the world’s most feared diseases until it was eradicated by a collaborative global vaccination programme led by the World Health Organization.
The last known natural case was in Somalia in 1977.
Since then, the only known cases were caused by a laboratory accident in 1978 in Birmingham, England, which killed one person and caused a limited outbreak.
Smallpox was officially declared eradicated in 1979. https://www.who.int/csr/disease/smallpox/faq/en/
https://www.who.int/csr/disease/smallpox/faq/en/
smallpox USA
Smallpox was a devastating disease.
On average, 3 out of every 10 people who got it died.
Those who survived were usually left with scars, which were sometimes severe. https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/history/history.html
The history of smallpox holds a unique place in medicine.
It was one of the deadliest diseases known to humans, and to date (2016) the only human disease to have been eradicated by vaccination.
The smallpox vaccine, introduced by Edward Jenner in 1796, was the first successful vaccine to be developed.
He observed that milkmaids who previously had caught cowpox did not catch smallpox and showed that inoculated vaccinia protected against inoculated variola virus.
The global eradication effort initially used a strategy of mass vaccination campaigns to achieve 80% vaccine coverage in each country, and thereafter by case-finding, followed by ring vaccination of all known and possible contacts to seal off the outbreak from the rest of the population.
In 1961 the bifurcated needle was developed as a more efficient and cost effective alternative, and was the primary instrument used during the eradication campaign from 1966 to 1977.
The bifurcated needle vaccination required only one-fourth the amount of vaccine needed with previous methods and was simpler to perform. - December 2017 https://www.who.int/csr/disease/smallpox/vaccines/en/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox https://www.who.int/csr/disease/smallpox/en/ https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/history/history.html
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2024/03/18/
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/20/
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/03/08/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/04/
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/09/19/
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/02/17/
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/08/25/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/22/us/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/02/17/
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/02/01/
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/12/08/
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/01/07/
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/05/09/
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/05/01/
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2011/05/24/
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2011/05/16/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/world/
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2006/jun/23/
vaccine, vaccination against variola virus USA
https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/history/history.html
eradicate smallpox USA
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/world/
Gen. George Washington
A Threat of Bioterrorism 1775
Bioterrorism was among the many concerns that occupied Gen. George Washington in the winter of 1775, six months after taking command of the ragtag American forces in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The years of the American Revolution coincided nearly perfectly with a smallpox epidemic that spanned the North American continent claiming more than 130,000 lives from 1775 to 1782.
And Washington had reason to believe that the British were waging germ warfare by deliberately infecting American troops with the highly contagious and deadly smallpox virus.
Washington knew firsthand the misery of the disease having survived a smallpox infection years earlier; he was well aware that a smallpox epidemic would ravage his fledgling armies.
It is impossible to know with certainty whether the British practiced germ warfare against the Americans or not.
However, a series of letters from Washington to Congress written in December 1775 reveal that the threat of biological warfare was sufficiently real in his mind to merit mention in his official reports.
First, his fears were based on a report that he heard and then fuelled by what he saw with his own eyes. https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/eyewitness/html.php?section=4
https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/eyewitness/
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