Smallpox eradication: progress and problems

Abstract

In 1958, the Eleventh World Health Assembly, on the proposal of the USSR, approved a resolution for world-wide smallpox eradication. In that year alone the disease occurred in 59 countries, and in addition many other areas experienced imported cases. When the intensified eradication programme began in 1967, there were 33 countries with endemic smallpox and two more countries subsequently became endemic. These 33 countries had a population of over 1,200,000,000 and were located in four of the six WHO regions. The most important endemic area was in Asia, but the disease was also endemic in South America and in Africa, south of the Sahara. The intensified campaign quickly narrowed the endemic area. In April 1971, the last case was reported from Brazil, the stronghold of the disease in the Western Hemisphere. By 1973, with the exception of those in the Horn of Africa, smallpox transmission was interrupted in all African countries. The last case in Asia occurred in Bangladesh where variola major made its last stand. The last known case of smallpox in the world was reported from Somalia on 27 October 1977. If no more cases are discovered it will be possible, in two years from that date, to certify that smallpox has been eradicated from all areas of the world, and Member States of the World Health Organization will be able to celebrate an unprecedented victory for preventive medicine. The complete eradication of smallpox is not only the liberation of the world from one of its most dangerous diseases, but also provides an example of what can be achieved when countries throughout the world join together with a common aim.