At about the same time as it was announced that mankind had wiped out smallpox, an even more intractable disease-- AIDS, which is thought to have started as a localized disease in Africa--began to spread across the world. To date, it has caused three million deaths worldwide.
一九八○年五月，人類宣佈天花已因人為因素自地球消失，隔年，更難纏的非洲風土性疾病﹘ ﹘愛滋病，開始席捲全世界，至今，在全世界已造成三百萬人口死亡。