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The clearest description of smallpox from pre-modern times was given in the 9th century by the Persian physician, Muhammad ibn Zakariya ar-Razi, known in the West as "Rhazes", who was the first to differentiate smallpox from measles and chickenpox in his Kitab fi al-jadari wa-al-hasbah (The Book of Smallpox and Measles). [27]
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. [7] [11] The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) certified the global eradication of the disease in 1980, [10] making smallpox the only human disease to have been eradicated to date.
Smallpox eradicated after years of work to stop spread In 1967, the World Health Organization began an “intensified effort” to eradicate smallpox, a contagious disease caused by the variola virus.
There are 12 species in this genus. Diseases associated with this genus include smallpox, cowpox, horsepox, camelpox, and mpox. [1] [2] The most widely known member of the genus is Variola virus, which causes smallpox. It was eradicated globally by 1977, through the use of Vaccinia virus as a vaccine.
Smallpox is caused by either of the two viruses, Variola major and Variola minor. Smallpox vaccine was available in Europe, the United States, and the Spanish Colonies during the last part of the century. [4] [5] The Latin names of this disease are Variola Vera. The words come from various (spotted) or varus (pimple).
Smallpox was a dangerous disease caused by the variola major virus. The most common type of smallpox, ordinary, historically has devastated populations with a 30% death rate. The smallpox virus is transmittable through bodily fluids and materials contaminated with infected materials.
The virus belongs to a group called orthopoxviruses, which include a number of species that can infect animals and humans, such as the viruses that cause smallpox, horsepox, camelpox and cowpox.
Theories alleging an origin from the Plains Indians rely on reports by missionaries and fur traders during the early 19th century describing the epidemic as coming from the plains during mountain-crossing bison hunts. A large scale smallpox epidemic is attested among the Sioux and Blackfoot, but only beginning around 1780. Accounts by native ...