Quote:
Originally Posted by Carth
How long did it take to eradicate smallpox . . . or to fully develop the working vaccine?
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Smallpox vaccination has a long, long history but the modern idea of smallpox vaccination started wit Edward Jenner who noticed that milkmaids didn't get smallpox. That seemed to be because they were exposed to cows that get Cowpox. He took Cowpox extracts and inoculated volunteers who didn't subsequently get Smallpox. This was in the early 1770s.
Fun fact interlude - the word 'vaccination' has a root 'vacca' which means 'cow'. Cowpox - Variola vacca is where the word vaccination comes from.
The vaccine went through many stages of development and improvement over the years but the WHO embarked on the Smallpox eradication program in 1972 where outbreaks were isolated and everyone close to the outbreaks were vaccinated. The disease was decalred eradicated in 1979.
The only stocks of Smallpox exist in defence labs in the US and Russia. However, the DNA sequence is public so anyone in principle could resurrect it.
Smallpox was relatively easy to eradicate because;
- There are no asymptomatic carriers
- People are only contagious when gross symptoms are present
- There are no animal carriers for Smallpox
- Diagnosis is very easy
Not many diseases are as easy to get rid of. Polio will probably be the next one.