Book Description

The first complete history of a major human disease from its origins some 3000 years ago to its deliberate extinction in the very recent past. Smallpox inspired a progression of key advances in medical knowledge--from the seminal discovery of vaccination to the concepts of contagion and quarantine, from a host of developments in vaccine manufacture and immunization to new faith in the power of preventive medicine. This handsome great book is a final medical portrait, providing a permanent reminder of the clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory features that made smallpox one of humanity's worst diseases. Among the abundant illustrations is a triumphal series of incident charts from 1967 (some 132,000 cases worldwide) through 1977 when the "reported cases" line for Somalia plunges through the bottom of the chart. For biomedical and history collections. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.