Smallpox

DNA

Modern-day tribes still carry traces of colonial devastation in their DNA

Health

European colonists to the Americas brought with them illnesses that devastated indigenous communities. New research explores this history in the genetic record.

Geo Washington painting Valley Forge

How the 1721 Boston smallpox epidemic changed medicine, launched a free press and helped win the American Revolution

Books
The World

Why 21st-century anti-vaxxers have nothing on their 18th-century counterparts

Health
Innoculation always prompts anxiety. Here's how France dealt with it three centuries ago.

How France used fashion to spread the message to vaccinate

Culture

Is the US secretly training Syria’s rebels?

Global Scan
Smaillpox virus

Should the last samples of smallpox virus be saved?

Environment

Though smallpox was officially declared to be eradicated in 1980, live samples of the virus live on — stored in carefully guarded freezers in Russia and the US. Now officials will consider eliminating those final samples — and truly wiping small pox off the Earth.Though smallpox was officially declared to be eradicated in 1980, live samples of the virus live on — stored in carefully guarded freezers in Russia and the US. Now officials will consider eliminating those final samples — and truly wiping small pox off the Earth.

Killing a killer disease

Health & Medicine

William Foege, one of the scientists who led the global campaign that eradicated smallpox, talks about the other six diseases he’d like to kill off.

Lessons from smallpox eradication

Health & Medicine

Smallpox was eradicated from the earth 30 years ago. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation reflects on what we’ve learned.

Remembering Ali Maow Maalin, the Last Person in the World to Contract Smallpox

Arts, Culture & Media

In Somalia, Ali Maow Maalin died unexpectedly this week. His passing is a milestone in the history of a viral disease: smallpox. Ali Maow Maalin was the last person in the world to be infected with naturally occurring smallpox.

Forum: How to Kill a Killer Disease

Global Politics

The first and only human disease to be eradicated was smallpox. Epidemiologist William Foege helped lead the campaign and has written a new book about it called “House on Fire: The Fight to Eradicate Smallpox.” The World’s Lisa Mullins speaks with Foege.