Although previously represented as an achievement crafted primarily by the actions the World Health Organization (WHO) and a small group of other key players, recent interpretations of the eradication of smallpox are dealing with this international cooperation and its players from different angle. Current historians are examining this achievement as one shaped not only by the mutual understanding for the need to end smallpox but also by international and local sociopolitical forces.
In his 1993 article, “Smallpox: Emergence, Global Spread and Eradication, “ Frank Fenner, a noted virologist and the Chairman of the Global Commission for Certification of Smallpox Eradication, explains the history and eventual destruction of the disease through the eyes of a scientist. For Fenner, the end of the disease lie in the creation of the Smallpox Eradication Programme (SEP), coordinated by WHO in Geneva Switzerland. Fenner acknowledges that countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas had been able to achieve country-wide elimination between 1959 and 1966, however, with a suggested eradication time frame of four to five years, WHO felt this pace would not suffice.
Subsequently, WHO created the SEP which focused primarily on those countries where endemic smallpox still existed: the Indian Subcontinent, the Horn of Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, Indonesia and Brazil. Fenner provides further biological and sociopolitical factors that he found played a role: the nature of the disease itself, advancement of strategies (improved vaccine quality and distribution), “earlier countrywide elimination in Europe and North America…no social or religious barriers to the recognition of cases...The costs of quarantine and the compulsory vaccination of intern...
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...countries. On the other hand, Hochman states that smallpox in Brazil, although still acknowledged, became a low priority for the government after 1920. It was not until international political alignments within South America and as the United States’ involvment changed in the early 1960 that the country became part of WHO’s Intensified Smallpox Eradication Programme
Works Cited
Frank Fenner, “Smallpox: Emergence, Global Spread, and Eradication,” History and Philosophy of Life Sciences 15, no. 3 (1993), 410.
Sanjoy Bhattacharya, “Struggling to a monumental triumph: re-assessing the final phases of the smallpox eradication program in India, 1960-1980, História, Ciências Saúde – Manguinhos 14, no.4 (2007), 1113
Gilberto Hochman, “Priority, Invisibility and Eradication: The History of Smallpox and the Brazilian Public Health Agenda,” Medical History 53 (2009), 230.
“Future nations will know by history only that the loathsome smallpox has existed and by you extirpated”. This quote comes from Thomas Jefferson to Edward Jenner, he founder of the smallpox vaccine. It would only be 100 years later that Jefferson would see his dream fulfilled, but not without struggle. In House on Fire, author William H. Foege shares his first hand view of the lengths that society needed to go through to rid the world of the disease that had plagued it for so long. The story of the fight against smallpox extends long before our efforts for global eradication and is a representation of how society deals with widespread disease. House on
Blackbird's book, like many similar autoethnographic texts, is a combination of autobiography, history, ethnography, and polemic. He opens with a conventional reference to inaccuracy in current histories. In the course of correcting the record he relates the story, preserved by elders of his nation, of a smallpox epidemic during the height of the French and Indian War, about 1757. Blackbird's story is unique because of the unusual disease vector.
...ver the years to numerous people in regards to smallpox and the American Revolution. Fenn, was able I believe to shed light on a subject which has had little attention brought to it. Even when we read about the Revolution from other perspectives smallpox is only briefly mentioned as major outcome to the war. I feel the author has brought to the fore front something that needs to be scrutinized even more. Smallpox played a important roll in our history affecting thousands as it moved across North America. We as historians should be aware that the impact smallpox had on the colonies and Revolutionary War was just as much a part of our history as the “shot heard around the world”.
In order to understand the history of smallpox one first has to understand how diseases like it evolve. Much like other species, diseases that survive in the long run are the microbes that most effectively reproduce and are able to find suitable places to live. For a microbe to effectively reproduce, it must "be defined mathematically as the number of new infected per each original patient." This number will largely depend on how long each victim is able to spread the virus to other victims (Diamond, 198).
Smallpox is a highly infectious and fatal disease caused by the Variola virus. It causes extremely painful pustules to sprout across the entire body. Spread from human to human, it has since been eradicated from the world through the efforts of the World Health Organization. However, there is a distinct possibility that it may be reintroduced through bioterrorism. Biological weapons may cause another pandemic to erupt across the world and kill millions of individuals. Through constant vigilance and careful planning, mankind can prevent this scenario.
Smallpox has been one of the most dangerous and deadly curses’ ever placed on humankind. Even illnesses as terrible as the plague, cholera, and yellow fever have not had such a universal effect. Smallpox is a parasitic virus (a virus destructive to the host) called variola. It’s considered to be a “crowd disease”, spreading only through people and requiring a large densely populated area to survive. If the virus is cut off from new host bodies it dies out.
The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston is an intriguing book that discusses the anthrax terrorist attacks after 9/11 and how smallpox might become a future bioterrorist threat to the world. The book provides a brief history of the smallpox disease including details of an outbreak in Germany in 1970. The disease was eradicated in 1979 due to the World Health Organization’s aggressive vaccine program. After the virus was no longer a treat the World Health Organization discontinued recommending the smallpox vaccination. In conjunction, inventory of the vaccine was decreased to save money. The virus was locked up in two labs, one in the United States and one in Russia. However, some feel the smallpox virus exists elsewhere. Dr. Peter Jahrling and a team of scientists at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Maryland became concerned terrorists had access to the smallpox virus and planed to alter the strain to become more resistant. These doctors conducted smallpox experiments to discover more effective vaccines in case the virus were released. Preparedness for a major epidemic is discussed as well as the ease with which smallpox can be bioengineered.
As early as AD 100, in Rome smallpox ravaged for 15 years, causing two thousand deaths daily. The disease spread throughout Europe, Asia and Northern Africa from the 12th through the 15th century. Colonists and explorers from E...
In closing, the variola virus affected a great amount in that era including, military strategy, trade, and native populations. Elizabeth A. Fenn’s book Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82 sheds light on a significant aspect of that era that had not been given proper credence beforehand. She also illuminated the effect of smallpox when it came to race and social status. With regard to race, smallpox decimated much of the non European populations partly because of their lack of an innate immunity to that virus and Europeans lack of regard for those of a different race. Fenn’s argument on social status showed how the poorer strata’s of society suffered more severely from the variola virus because of their lack of finances to get inoculated; thus, the poor often suffered a worse strain of the virus which often lead to death.
Smallpox is a lethal disease that is caused by Variola virus, which is classified under orthopoxvirus family (Norn, 2011). Small pox was one of the most feared diseases in the world until it was eradicated by a joint global vaccination program that was led by the World Health Organization. Eradication of this disease was a major global achievement where smallpox disease was officially declared eradicated in the year 1979. The last known case of small pox was recorded in Somalia in the year 1977. The other case of small pox that was recorded in 1978 in Birmingham city was as a result of laboratory accident (Surjan, 2009). One person was killed in the incidence and a limited outbreak of the disease was recorded.
For approximately three-thousand years, smallpox has ravaged and plagued the four corners of the globe. In fact, in the 17 th and 18 th centuries, it was claimed to be the most infectious disease in the West, with an astounding 90% mortality rate in America. It wasn't until 1796, with English surgeon Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination, that the world saw relief from this devastating virus. However, even with this inoculation in use, the world continued to witness death from both the virus and the vaccine. In the year 1966, it was estimated that 10-15 million infected citizens world wide had passed away from smallpox that year alone ( “History” 12). As a result of these devastating numbers, in the following year, 1967, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) created a program to eradicate the smallpox virus. Ten years later, in 1977, the estimated 10-15 million cases had dwindled down to one; a man in Somalia. Three years later, W.H.O. officially announced that smallpox had been eradicated, leaving the only remaining virus cultures stored and guarded in laboratories in Russia and the United States. Inoculations ceased, smallpox epidemics were non-existent, and the virus was no longer a concern. In order to ensure complete eradication of this deadly virus, the W.H.O. insisted that the remaining smallpox cultures be destroyed by 1999 ( “Smallpox Eradication” 2). However, despite the W.H.O.'s recommendation, the remaining cultures continue to be contained and protected to this day, five years after the suggested date of elimination.
Smallpox is a disease from the variola virus. Smallpox has caused an estimated number of 300 million deaths in the 1900s alone. Smallpox is said to have been around since the ancient Egyptian times. The disease was eradicated in the late 20th century and two samples are still kept, one in U.S.A and one in Russia. Smallpox creates bumps and blisters all over the body and has been one of the most fatal epidemics the world has seen.
Laura Bohannon, in her book Return to Laughter (Bowen, Elenore, 1964, Doubleday), describes a dilemma when smallpox begins to rage through an African country. She has been
Throughout human history disease has been linked to many facets of life and even the rise and fall of entire civilizations. Biological, social, political and economic forces have all influenced how the outbreak of disease is handled. Epidemics have altered history in how they have developed and the impact that they have had. In turn, epidemic management has been influenced by history and governments as humans have learned to cope with outbreaks and the social and political implications that result from them. Today, biomedical engineers, politicians, historians and social scientists are leading the battle in an attempt to understand and combat infectious diseases. This report will explore epidemic management and its historical relationship with the international political system. Issues will be investigated that range from the societal effects of epidemics, to observing today’s public policy debates regarding outbreaks to the possible reduction or even dissolution of conflict in exchange for food and medical technology between nations. Research has made it abundantly clear that humans must be vigilant in combating epidemics. By drawing on multiple disciplines, it is possible to implement a sound disease management plan that will control and reduce the spreading and mortality of infectious agents across the globe, as well as reduce tension and conflict between the developed and developing worlds.