Epidemiology
Smallpox existed for at least 3000 years. The disease was declared eradicated in 1980 following a global immunization campaign led by the World Health Organization, with the last known natural case reported in Somalia in 1977. It is the only human disease to be declared eradicated. The last known case in the world, in September 1978, resulted from a laboratory accident in Birmingham, England. Since 1979, more harm has resulted from vaccination with replication-competent vaccinia virus (a related orthopoxvirus that is used in smallpox vaccines) amongst military personnel than from actual exposure to smallpox.[1]
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