Rahima Banu, a toddler in rural Bangladesh, was the last person in the world to contract variola major, the deadly form of smallpox, through natural infection. In October 1975, after World Health ...

Years of work by the World Health Organization’s Smallpox Eradication Unit isolated the deadly variola major strain of the virus to Bhola, an island off the coast of Bangladesh.

Variola major causes severe disease with prostration, higher fever, and extensive pustulation. [ 24 ] Infection with smallpox requires close, prolonged personal contact; trivial contact usually ...

Smallpox was eradicated in 1977. This amazing, global public health achievement isn’t just a page in a history book or an ...

Smallpox was certified eradicated in 1980, but I first learned about the disease's twisty, storied history in 1996 while interning at the World Health Organization. I was a college student ...

Smallpox is caused by the variola virus. This comes in two strains: the less severe variola minor and the more deadly variola major. It is highly infectious, and has an incubation period of between ...

Smallpox mortality falls between 20% and 50%. Until it was completely eradicated from the Earth in the late 1970s, it is estimated that smallpox killed at least 300,000 people worldwide during the ...

Smallpox, caused by the variola virus, ... But the disease was a major cause of death until relatively recently, killing at least 300 million people in the 20 th century.

Rahima Banu, a toddler in rural Bangladesh, was the last person in the world known to contract variola major, the deadly form of smallpox, through natural infection. In October 1975, ...

Rahima Banu had the last recorded case of naturally occurring variola major smallpox, a deadly strain of the virus, in 1975. At left: Banu in her mother's arms as a small child.

In October 1975, after World Health Organization epidemiologists learned of her infection, health workers vaccinated those around her, putting an end to variola major transmission around the world.

Physician Céline Gounder traveled to India and Bangladesh to bring back unheard stories from the eradication of smallpox, many from health workers whose voices have been missing from the record.