Smallpox, the Spotted Plague

Smallpox was at one time one of the most devastating of all human diseases, yet no one really knows when smallpox began to infect humans. The best evidence of smallpox in humans have found in three Egyptian mummies, dating from 1570 to 1085 BC. The first outbreak of smallpox in the Americas was among African slaves on the island of Hispaniola in 1518. There are two pathologic varieties of the smallpox virus: Variola major and Variola minor. In the 17th century, smallpox was Europe's most common and devastating disease, killing an estimated 400,000 each year. With the outbreak of war in 1775, the most dangerous enemy the colonists had to fight was not the British but smallpox. Eradication of smallpox was possible for three reasons: First, there were no animal reservoirs. Second, the methods of preserving the vaccine proved to be effective. Third, the vaccine was easily administered. Smallpox is the first and only naturally occurring disease to be eradicated by human intervention. Smallpox also provided the incentive for the development of protective measures (variolation and vaccination), affected the cultural responses to disease, and contributed to the establishment of more humane public health policies. The eradication of smallpox has demonstrated that through vaccination there is the possibility for the elimination of other infectious diseases that continue to plague humankind.