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Smallpox eradication has saved 100m lives

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DUBAI — Some 100 million lives around the world have been saved during the last 25 years due to the successful eradication of smallpox, the greatest public health achievement in the history of mankind. A further 200 million people have been spared its devastating effects, including permanent scarring and blindness.

Published: Sun 6 Mar 2005, 9:08 AM

Updated: Thu 2 Apr 2015, 8:13 PM

  • By
  • A Staff Reporter

Smallpox is the only disease that the mankind has eliminated from nature. In the Middle East, smallpox had largely disappeared by 1967. As recently as the early 1960s, smallpox claimed the lives of two million people each year, with 300 million lives lost in the 20th century.

In 1959, the WHO embarked on a worldwide eradication programme and in 1980 announced that the deadly virus, in its naturally occurring form, had been obliterated. However, experts warn no one is protected from a potential recurrence through artificial means.



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