On May 8th, 1980, officials from the World Health Organization

announced that Smallpox, the disease which had ravaged humanity across the world for millennia, had been eradicated.

Over the last century, before the eradication of smallpox it is

estimated to have killed half a billion people. Learn more about humanity's

deadliest disease and how it was eradicated on this episode of sponsored by audible.com. My audiobook recommendation today is The Speckled Monster, a historical tale of battling

Smallbox by Jennifer Lee Carroll. The Speckled Monster is both a tale of

courage in the face of the deadliest disease that has ever struck mankind and a

gripping account of the birth of modern

immunology. Carol's dramatic story follows two parents who after barely

surviving the agony of smallpox themselves floated 18th century European medical tradition by borrowing folk

knowledge from African slaves to protect their children. You can get a free one-month

trial to audible and two free audio books by going to audible trial.com slash everything everywhere

or by clicking on the link in the show notes.

Smallpox also known as the Variolavirus, is the deadliest disease in human history.

Full stop.

More deadly than all the wars ever fought, more deadly than the Bubonic Plague,

cholera, influenza, or as far as we know, anything.

If you contracted smallpox, your odds of dying were about 30%. Less lethal than Ebola but far more virulent. It

inhabited the deadly sweet spot of lethality and virulentness. We aren't sure when smallpox first reared its head and infected humans. It was probably

around 10 to 12,000 years ago when humans first domesticated animals. Our best guess is that it first appeared in northeast Africa where it mutated from an African rodent pox virus which is the closest related virus in nature

The first evidence we have of the disease comes from ancient Egypt.

Some mummies from around 1500 BC have been found with smallpox skin lesions.

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