the only human disease we ever hunted to extinction, and we're still bragging about it correctly.
means a brutally contagious viral disease that killed roughly a third of its victims and scarred or blinded most of the rest.
from named small pox in 15th-century england to distinguish it from the great pox, syphilis — small referring to the size of the pustules, not the severity, because there was nothing small about a disease that shaped world history.
variolation — pre-vaccine practice of deliberate infection, used in china by 1500s
edward jenner 1796 — used cowpox to create the first vaccine ever
ali maow maalin — last person with naturally occurring smallpox, somalia 1977
soviet stockpiles — cold war programs kept weaponized samples despite eradication