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Smallpox: emergence, global spread, and eradication

F Fenner1

  • 1John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra.

History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
|January 1, 1993
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Smallpox, a human disease likely originating from animal orthopoxviruses, spread globally over millennia. Through variolation and vaccination, smallpox was eventually eradicated by the World Health Organization in 1980.

Area of Science:

  • Virology
  • Epidemiology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Smallpox (variola virus) is a specifically human disease with an uncertain evolutionary origin.
  • Historical records suggest an emergence from animal orthopoxviruses in central Africa thousands of years ago.

Observation:

  • The virus likely established in human populations in the Nile Valley around 5,000 years ago.
  • Smallpox spread across Eurasia and North Africa by the first millennium CE, reaching Europe during the Crusades.
  • European colonization facilitated the global dissemination of smallpox, significantly impacting the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa.

Findings:

  • Variolation, an early inoculation method, was developed by the 10th century.
  • Edward Jenner's cowpox vaccine, introduced in 1798, replaced variolation.

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  • The World Health Organization initiated a global eradication program in 1967, successfully eliminating smallpox by 1980.

    • Implications:

    • Smallpox represents a unique case of a zoonotic disease becoming a global human affliction and subsequently being eradicated.
    • The eradication highlights the success of organized public health initiatives and vaccination campaigns.
    • Understanding smallpox's emergence and spread provides insights into managing future zoonotic disease threats.