Friday marked the 40th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, an encouraging reminder of what can be achieved when the global health community unites behind a common cause.
For centuries, smallpox was a far deadlier disease than the novel coronavirus, killing three out of every 10 people that contracted it. Epidemiologists believe the virus killed as many as 300 and 500 million people in the 20th century alone, with the disease even traced as far back as to the body of Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses V, who died in 1157 BC.
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