Introduction to smallpox: Smallpox long reigned as the king of
dreaded contagious diseases. It killed more people than any
other virus in recorded history — about 500 million people in
the 20th century alone. For about 20 years, smallpox seemed to
have vanished, no longer haunting the dreams of most people.
Many had never even heard of it. Unfortunately, terrorist’s
suicidal viciousness and new biological attacks have brought the
threat of smallpox back to the future. What is smallpox?
Smallpox is one of the classic childhood viral illnesses. The
first written descriptions of smallpox are from early China
where it was described as a disease from the west. Even before
that, smallpox left physical evidence — it has been found in
ancient Egyptian mummies. The disease later spread as part of
the great Islamic expansion across North Africa and into Spain.
The ill-fated travel of the Crusades then brought it to the rest
of Europe where for many generations it caused about 10 percent
of all deaths every year. Europe