How Was Smallpox Eradicated ??
“The world and all its peoples have won freedom from smallpox. ” This statement was issued by the 33rd World Health assembly in May, 1980, 5 months after it was official that smallpox was eradicated. It's one of the two diseases that has the pleasure of being eradicated, the other being rinderpest. The last case of smallpox was registered in Somalia in 1977. We've learnt this much in academics. H istory suggests that the 1st case of smallpox was some 12000 years ago, around the time the agricultural revolution began. It is also believed that this notorious disease in 430 BC caused the Plagueof Athens and the Antonine Plague killing people in the ballpark of 3.5 to 7 million , including emperors and high lords and ladies, thus devastating the normal way of life. It was not until 1796 , that Edward Jenner , an English doctor, discovered that infection to cowpox, created immunity for smallpox . Thus, coining the term vaccine . But how was this seemingly hum