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Commentary: Missed opportunities.

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Smallpox and American Indians revisited.

James C Riley1

  • 1History Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA. rileyj@indiana.edu

Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences
|March 12, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Smallpox disproportionately devastated American Indians due to factors like maternal immunity and infectivity, unlike in Europe. Recent research offers new insights into this historical demographic catastrophe.

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Area of Science:

  • Historical epidemiology
  • Infectious disease dynamics
  • Early modern demographic shifts

Background:

  • Smallpox (variola) caused severe depopulation in the Americas during the early modern era, contrasting with its manageable impact in Europe.
  • Scholarly debate persists regarding the reasons for smallpox's differential lethality between American Indians and Europeans.

Observation:

  • Post-eradication research on variola, driven by bioterrorism concerns, has yielded updated data on smallpox infectivity.
  • New information highlights the vulnerability of infants born to unvaccinated mothers and the risks for pregnant women.

Findings:

  • Factors potentially increasing smallpox lethality in American Indians include higher infectivity rates and lack of maternal antibodies.
  • A greater proportion of the American Indian population may have contracted smallpox, exacerbating its impact.

Implications:

  • Understanding historical smallpox dynamics can inform current public health strategies and biodefense preparedness.
  • This research revisits and updates hypotheses on the New World smallpox pandemic using contemporary scientific findings.