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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.
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. Generally, face-to-face contact is required for an individual to contract smallpox as a result of an interaction with another human.
First writings documenting variolation in China appear around 1500. Scabs from smallpox victims who had the disease in its mild form would be selected, and the powder was kept close to body temperature by means of keeping it close to the chest, killing the majority of the virus and resulting in a more mild case of smallpox. [108]
The Massachusetts smallpox epidemic or colonial epidemic was a smallpox outbreak that hit Massachusetts in 1633. [1] Smallpox outbreaks were not confined to 1633 however, and occurred nearly every ten years. [2] Smallpox was caused by two different types of variola viruses: variola major and variola minor. [3]
Both Jynneos and ACAM2000 contain vaccinia virus that is closely related to, but less harmful than the viruses that cause smallpox and mpox. ACAM2000 uses a live, infectious form of the vaccinia ...
On 22 February 1722, it was officially announced that no new cases of smallpox were appearing in Boston and the disease was in decline. [1] In the outbreak's aftermath, with over 800 Bostonians dead and many more disfigured from smallpox, Boylston's 247 inoculated patients had a 2% death rate versus the 15% [ 8 ] [ 5 ] of people who died if ...
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 ...
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.)