In the 20th century alone, an estimated 500 million lives succumbed to smallpox, making it the sole human disease to have been eradicated. However, a new report, the Future State of Smallpox ...

Smallpox is a viral, infectious disease that once terrorized us humans. It causes a significant skin rash and fever, and during the most rampant outbreaks in the 20th century, killed an estimated ...

When European diseases wiped out up to 90% of the Americas' population, abandoned farmland was swallowed by forests—pulling enough carbon from the air to help plunge the planet into a centuries-long ...

By William J. Broad In 1999, William J. Broad and two colleagues wrote a comprehensive article on the past, present and future of the smallpox virus. Feb. 12, 2025 President Trump’s order that ...

View Full Profile. Learn about our Editorial Policies. Thanks to a Cold War-era division of responsibility, smallpox has been held in just two places in the world since 1984: at the CDC labs in ...

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Not so with smallpox. To create this vaccine, you begin with another virus that is similar to the smallpox virus, yet different enough not to bring on the smallpox disease once it enters your body.

Smallpox, one of the biggest killers in history, is caused by a virus called variola. Variola causes a distinctive rash and is often lethal. The name variola comes from the Latin word for “spotted” ...

Symptoms of monkeypox can also be compared with smallpox — a related virus that was declared eradicated in 1980. Like smallpox, monkeypox causes pus-filled boils. But monkeypox is generally ...

Here’s a look back at some of them. Smallpox is caused by the variola virus, which spreads through skin-to-skin contact or contact with bodily fluids. It can also be spread through the air.

smallpox virus already have protection? The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) isn’t betting on it.