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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.
There have been various major infectious diseases with high prevalence worldwide, but they are currently not listed in the above table as epidemics/pandemics due to the lack of definite data, such as time span and death toll. An Ethiopian child with malaria, a disease with an annual death rate of 619,000 as of 2021. [18]
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). In England, this disease was first known as the "pox" or the "red plague".
The pandemic also took a massive toll on the indigenous population of the Americas. The disease was likely spread via the travels of the Shoshone Indian tribes. Beginning in 1780, it reached the Pueblos of the territory comprising present day New Mexico. It also showed up in the interior trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1782.
The first known smallpox epidemic to strike the native peoples of the coastal and interior Pacific Northwest arrived in the early 1770s, devastating large swathes of the population and causing significant demographic collapse – both from the disease itself and corresponding malnutrition from the deaths of hunters within tribes.
The history of smallpox extends into pre-history. [1] Genetic evidence suggests that the smallpox virus emerged 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. [ 2 ] Prior to that, similar ancestral viruses circulated, but possibly only in other mammals, and possibly with different symptoms.
Twelve cases of smallpox were confirmed—9 in Manhattan and 3 in Millbrook. Seven were adults and 5 were children, the latter group all age 5 and under. The oldest patient was the 62-year-old nun. The youngest patient was the 22-month-old baby girl. [citation needed] Two patients—Eugene Le Bar, age 47, and Carmen Acosta, age 25—died.
1924–1925 Minnesota smallpox epidemic; 1947 New York City smallpox outbreak; 1962-1965 rubella epidemic [2] 1976 Philadelphia Legionnaires' disease outbreak; 1976 swine flu outbreak; 1987 Carroll County cryptosporidiosis outbreak; 1990–1991 Philadelphia measles outbreak; 1993 Four Corners hantavirus outbreak; 1992–1993 Jack in the Box E ...