Smallpox is believed to have originated in Northeast Africa around 10,000 BCE. Evidence of its existence in Egypt and India dates back to 1570-1085 BCE, though ancient societies had little understanding of the disease and no effective treatments. Major outbreaks included the Plague of Athens in 430 BCE, the Antonine Plague in Rome from 165-180 AD, and an outbreak in Ethiopia brought on by returning soldiers in 568 AD. Throughout this period, Smallpox spread globally with few means of prevention or cure. The first vaccine was developed by Edward Jenner in 1796, and global eradication efforts led to the last naturally occurring case in 1975.
Smallpox is believed to have originated in Northeast Africa around 10,000 BCE. Evidence of its existence in Egypt and India dates back to 1570-1085 BCE, though ancient societies had little understanding of the disease and no effective treatments. Major outbreaks included the Plague of Athens in 430 BCE, the Antonine Plague in Rome from 165-180 AD, and an outbreak in Ethiopia brought on by returning soldiers in 568 AD. Throughout this period, Smallpox spread globally with few means of prevention or cure. The first vaccine was developed by Edward Jenner in 1796, and global eradication efforts led to the last naturally occurring case in 1975.
Smallpox is believed to have originated in Northeast Africa around 10,000 BCE. Evidence of its existence in Egypt and India dates back to 1570-1085 BCE, though ancient societies had little understanding of the disease and no effective treatments. Major outbreaks included the Plague of Athens in 430 BCE, the Antonine Plague in Rome from 165-180 AD, and an outbreak in Ethiopia brought on by returning soldiers in 568 AD. Throughout this period, Smallpox spread globally with few means of prevention or cure. The first vaccine was developed by Edward Jenner in 1796, and global eradication efforts led to the last naturally occurring case in 1975.
Smallpox occurred in ancient agricultural settlements in
Northeast Africa. It is unknown what the people of this time did to treat the disease but it is likely they had no effective methods to prevent spreading or fatalities. The original pathogen is likely to have evolved from a rodentvirus.
1570-1085 BCE: evidence such as the mummified
body of King Ramses V of Egypt and records on stone tablets suggest earliest definitive instances of Smallpox in India and Egypt. The ancient Egyptians had an impressive understanding of the human body and its illnesses relative to their time period and did make an effort to maintain a state of cleanliness when dealing with disease, but nonetheless could not have developed an effective treatment of Smallpox. Surely if they had they would have given the best to Ramses V.
430 BCE: the Plague of Athens, Greece is believed to
have been mainly caused by Smallpox. First occurred in the year 430 BCE as a result of the Peloponnesian war and returned twice more in 429 BCE and in the winter of 427/426 BCE. Due to the high infectivity of the virus the sick were often left untreated because anyone who did treat them would unfailingly become sick themselves.
165-180 AD: Roman soldiers returning from the near
east bring a plague to the Roman Empire that is believed to have been either smallpox or measles. Called the Antonine Plague, the outbreak raged in Syria and Italy for fifteen years and claimed an estimated 5 million lives. The Roman Empire was often plagued with disease largely due to the open sewer systems and the dense, communally-bathing population. Little steps were taken to prevent the spread of Smallpox in these times.
250-270 AD: Rome was afflicted by the Plague of
Cyprian during a time of political crisis and was once again ill-suited to prevent the disease from taking a large amount of lives.
568 AD: Ethiopian troops return from invasion of
Mecca and bring Smallpox with them. Very little is recorded in this area from this time, however there is evidence that suggests that soldiers in fighting in the Elephant Wars throughout the Middle East and Northeast Africa contracted Smallpox during a siege of Mecca and brought it
back with them to Africa. It is believed that this would later
lead to Smallpox spreading to the Americas in the 1600s during the Atlantic Slave Trade. No treatments had been developed at this point. As European countries colonize Africa they frequently encounter the Smallpox virus.
1545: Outbreaks in India begin to become more
frequent as the population becomes more dense and medical practice does not become at all more sophisticated. 1625: North American epidemic brought on by Atlantic Slave Trade.
1700s: Outbreaks in Russia claim roughly one in seven
children each year. Eventually selective pressures in the population led to a drop in the diseases frequency as the resistant individuals became more prevalent. The sick are isolated as to not infect the healthy, but no treatments exist thus far.
1700s: Frequent outbreaks in the North American
colonies occurring within colonist and native populations alike, with the most deaths occurring in native populations. First major outbreak in a colony occurred in 1692 in Boston,
MA. Colonists could do little more than the natives to
prevent the disease, the only treatment still being to avoid the sick and their bodily fluids. Meanwhile Smallpox has become an endemic disease in almost every population on Earth with the exception of Australia and several other smaller islands.
1789: Major outbreak in Australian aboriginal
population leaves about half of the East-coast aborigines dead. The original cause is still under debate, the two suspects being the original fleet of English settler and other
earlier visitors to the continent. Still no treatment. The
natives had never been exposed to the virus before and a vaccine had yet to be developed. 1796: Edward Jenner of England effectively prevents Smallpox in humans by injecting them first with Cowpox.
1800: Dr. John Clinch of Newfoundland develops the
Smallpox vaccine and introduces it to the New World 1864: Outbreak in Angola caused by occupying Portuguese soldiers, 25,000 inhabitants die (roughly of
their population at the time) due to lack of access to
vaccines. 1870-1875: Epidemics in Europe caused by FrancoPrussian War leave more than 500,000 dead.
1958: Professor Viktor Zhdanov, Deputy Minister of
Health for the USSR, calls on World Health assembly for a global effort to eradicate Smallpox. 1975: The last wildly-occurring case of Smallpox is diagnosed in Somalia, Africa.
Photo of Rahima Banu from Bangladesh, most recent case of naturally occurring Variola major