December 9th

On this day – 9^th December 1979 – First human disease driven to extinction 

On this day it was certified that the Smallpox virus was eradicated. It is one of just two infectious diseases that has been eradicated, the other being Rinderpest. Smallpox has been tracked as far back as Pharaoh Ramses V of Egypt but is believed to have existed in 10 000 BC.  It came in two viruses Variola minor and Variola major. The minor version would be lethal in around 1% of the cases while the major one would kill in 30-35% of the cases. The first makings of an vaccine for the virus was made by Edward Jenner in 1796. The breakthrough he discovered was that inoculating with cowpox lesion could result in immunity to smallpox. During the 18th century smallpox killed an estimated 400 000 Europeans annually including five reigning monarks. In the 20th century it is estimated that smallpox was the source of 300-500 million deaths. Smallpox has been used as a weapon as early as 1754 in the French and Indian wars and the Soviet Union had an outbreak of weaponized smallpox on an island in 1971. Smallpox is considered an extinct disease but there are still stock of it left, the remaining stock is used for research.