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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 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.
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 .
The Centers for Disease Control reports that there have been more than 22,400 cases across 79 countries around the world. Almost 99% of monkeypox cases from the current outbreak have been reported ...
The smallpox vaccine is used to prevent smallpox infection caused by the variola virus. [10] It is the first vaccine to have been developed against a contagious disease. In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the relatively mild cowpox virus conferred immunity against the deadly smallpox virus.
The shots have been stockpiled for years by countries such as Japan, the United States and Canada in case smallpox, an eradicated disease that is the more dangerous cousin of mpox, ever makes a ...
Ten years earlier, Jenner had intentionally infected a boy with cowpox, in order to protect him against the much more terrifying smallpox disease. Jenner gathered more evidence, and two years ...
According to the Center for Disease Control, the rate for post-vaccination encephalitis following the smallpox vaccine is 3 to 12 per million, and the fatality rate is about 1 in a million. [16] (Since this was the largest vaccination campaign ever, it is likely to have contributed substantially to the C.D.C.'s data and estimates.)