Diagnosis and Management of Smallpox

Abstract

The last case of endemic smallpox occurred in Somalia in 1977, and eradication of the disease was declared in 1980. With no natural reservoir, variola virus, which causes smallpox, has existed only in laboratories; indeed, the last case of smallpox was due to infection acquired in a laboratory in the United Kingdom in 1978. During the global program of smallpox eradication, the World Health Organization (WHO) made concerted efforts to decrease the number of laboratories retaining variola virus. On the basis of contacts with all countries and a total of 823 microbiology institutions, 76 such laboratories had been identified by 1978.^1,2 By 1984, only the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in Atlanta, and the Research Institute of Viral Preparations, in Moscow, retained variola virus isolates. In 1994, the Russian isolates were moved to the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology (the Vektor Institute), in Novosibirsk, Russia.