smallpox eradication
Wiping out variola
Smallpox eradication refers to the complete elimination of the smallpox virus from human populations, achieved in 1980 through a global vaccination campaign led by the World Health Organization.
It remains the only human disease to have been deliberately eradicated.
The phrase often appears in discussions of public health achievements and serves as a benchmark for other disease-elimination efforts: Polio eradication programs have drawn lessons from smallpox eradication.
- surveillance systemsTechnology for observing activities
- cold chainTemperature-controlled distribution system
- herd immunityWidespread resistance protecting all
- field workersAgricultural labor force
- ring vaccinationVaccinating contacts around cases
vaccine efficacy · immunology · mass vaccination · scarring · zero cases · quarantine protocols · viral transmission · international solidarity · last mile · final push · health equity · WHO · global health · public health campaign · cowpox · cultural shifts · poverty alleviation
smallpox eradicationpandemic
Global disease outbreak
epidemic · endemic disease · disease outbreak · Black Death · plague
smallpox eradicationcommunity spread
Disease circulating locally, source unknown
small, smaller, smallest, smallness, pox, eradicate, eradicated, eradicating, eradicates