Is it finally time to eliminate the remaining stocks of variola (smallpox) virus for good? The World Health Assembly will discuss the current status on May 27. The World Health Assembly in 1996 ...

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.

As we hopefully learn how to address current and future pandemics, it is worth understanding what we learned from the great infectious disease fights of the past. Smallpox has been around for a ...

When smallpox vaccinations were terminated, the world’s immunity to mpox evaporated, and the medical training needed to combat a pox virus started to dissipate too. This is a story about ...

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” ...

After serving as Chief of the Smallpox Eradication Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Henderson served as Director of the WHO's global smallpox eradication campaign ...

Before the smallpox virus was destroyed in the early 1980s, many people received the smallpox vaccine. As a result, if you’re in your 40s or older, you likely have a permanent scar from an ...

Similar Facebook posts have also made the case vaccination was responsible for eliminating the deadly disease, which they claim killed "3 out of every 10 people." Smallpox is a highly contagious ...

During a smallpox epidemic in 1774, English farmer Benjamin Jesty used the cowpox virus to successfully inoculate his wife but did not make his experiment public. In 1716 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu ...

the virus used in the smallpox vaccine. By Johnny Diaz This article has been updated with the results of the C.D.C.’s investigation. After an investigation into vials labeled “smallpox ...

The disease was declared to be eradicated worldwide in the late 1970s. However, the smallpox virus can be used as a bio-weapon, and there is a vaccine available for people who may encounter the agent.

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 ...