SMALLPOX

Smallpox was a fatal viral disease that used to kill about 30% of those it infected. Smallpox typically induced fever and vomiting before producing rashes and fluid-filled bumps over the entire body. In time, the bumps would fall off, leaving permanent scars. Additionally, many of those that survived smallpox were left blind. The earliest recorded instance of smallpox occurred in Egypt in the third century BC, while the disease continued to kill hundreds of millions per year until the second half of the 20th century. Thanks to a major vaccination campaign by the World Health Organization, smallpox was formally eradicated in 1980.