Smallpox: Eradicating the Scourge

Page 1 of 6

• 1. The scourge of the world
• 2. Edward Jenner's breakthrough
• 3. Draconian measures in Yugoslavia
• 4. Containment
• 5. A new threat?
• 6. Find out more
• Print entire article

The scourge of the world

An estimated 300 million people died from smallpox in the 20th century alone. This virulent disease, which kills a third of those it infects, is known to have co-existed with human beings for thousands of years. As the world's population grew, and travel increased, so the virus that Edward Jenner called the "speckled monster" grasped every opportunity to colonise the world.

The earliest physical evidence of smallpox is the pustular rash on the mummified body of Pharaoh Ramesses V of Egypt, who died in 1157 BC. Traders carried the disease from Egypt to India during the 1st millennium BC. From there it swept into China in the 1st century AD and reached Japan in the 6th century. Returning crusaders provided a way for smallpox to spread through Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries.

Smallpox was particularly successful in virgin populations. The Spanish inadvertently owe much of their success in conquering the Aztecs and Incas in Mexico in the 16th century to smallpox. Unlike the Spanish, the native Indians had no immunity to the disease, having never encountered it before. It wiped out huge numbers of them. A century later the North American Indians suffered a similar devastation. In the 18th century smallpox decimated the aborigines when it reached Australia, the last corner of the world to have escaped its ravages.

'he Spanish inadvertently owe much of their success in conquering the Aztecs and Incas in Mexico in the 16th century to smallpox.'

People struggled to find ways to battle with smallpox. Variolation was a process developed in the 10th century in China and India. It involves taking pus from the pocks of someone suffering from smallpox and inoculating healthy people with it. Usually a mild case of smallpox developed, giving lifelong immunity afterwards. There was a risk of death from this, but in a world where smallpox was rife the odds made it worthwhile; about 0.5-2 percent of people died after variolation, compared with 20-30 per cent after natural smallpox. A major disadvantage of the practice was that variolated people could pass on severe smallpox to others.

Next 

Published: 2002-02-01