Smallpox

Smallpox (also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera) is a highly contagious disease unique to humans. It is caused by two virus variants called Variola major and Variola minor. V. major is the more deadly form, with a typical mortality of 20-40 percent of those infected. The other type, V. minor, only kills 1% of its victims. Many survivors are left blind in one or both eyes from corneal ulcerations, and persistent skin scarring - pockmarks - is nearly universal. Smallpox was responsible for an estimated 300-500 million deaths in the 20th century. As recently as 1967, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 15 million people contracted the disease and that two million died in that year.

References

• Fenner, Frank, Henderson, D.A., Arita, Isao, Jezek, Zdenek, and Ladnyi, Ivan D. "Smallpox and Its Eradication." World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland, 1988. ISBN 9241561106.
• Hopkins, Donald R. "Princes and Peasants: Smallpox in History." University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1983. ISBN 0226351777.
• Koplow, David. "Smallpox: The Fight to Eradicate a Global Scourge." University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA, 2003, ISBN 0-520-23732-3.
• McNeill, William H. "Plagues and Peoples." Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., New York, NY, 1976, ISBN 0-385-12122-9.
• Preston, Richard. "The Demon in the Freezer." Random House, New York, NY, 2002, ISBN 0-375-50856-2.
• Catalog to the exhibit entitled "TO SLAY THE DEVOURING MONSTER: The Vaccination Experiments of Benjamin Waterhouse" (2000). Hosted by the Rare Books and Special Collections, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine. Verified availability 2005-03-12.

Numbered references

• {{note|RevWarDeaths}} Fenn, Elizabeth Anne (2001). Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82 (1^st edition). Hill and Wang. ISBN 0809078201.
• {{note|Onesimus}} Willoughby, Brian (Feb 12, 2004). BLACK HISTORY MONTH II: Why Wasn't I Taught That?. Tolerance.org. Availability verified 2005-03-02.
• {{note|LTWright}} A Brief Biography of Dr. Louis T. Wright hosted as part of the Great Migration Project. Availability verified 2005-03-03.
• {{note|WW1Vacc}} Spotlight on Black Inventors, Scientists, and Engineers hosted by the Department of Computer Science of Georgetown University. Availability verified 2005-03-03.