| Smallpox was the first widespread
disease to be eliminated by human intervention. A highly contagious viral
disease, it was endemic in Europe, causing the death of millions of people until
the development of vaccination by Edward Jenner around 1800. In many non-
European nations, it remained a dreaded, often fatal illness until very
recently. In May 1966, the World Health Organization (WHO), an agency of the United Nations, was authorized to initiate a global campaign to eradicate smallpox. The goal was to eliminate the disease in one decade. At the time, the disease posed a serious {{U}}threat{{/U}} to people in thirty nations. More than 700 physicians, nurses, scientists, and other personnel from WHO joined about 200,000 health workers in the infected nations to battle the disease. Because similar projects for malaria and yellow fever had failed, few believed that smallpox could actually be eradicated, but eleven years after the initial organization of the campaign, no cases were reported in the field. The strategy was not only to provide mass vaccinations but also to isolate patients with active smallpox in order to {{U}}contain{{/U}} the spread of the disease and to break the chain of human transmission. Rewards for reporting smallpox assisted in motivating the public to aid health workers. One by one, each smallpox victim was sought out, removed from contact with others and treated. At the same time, the entire village where the victim had lived was vaccinated. By April 1978, WHO officials announced that {{U}}they{{/U}} had {{U}}isolated{{/U}} the last known case of the disease, but health workers continued to search for new cases for two additional years to be completely sure. In May 1980, a formal statement was made to the global community. Today smallpox is no longer a threat to humanity. Routine vaccinations have been stopped worldwide. |