How long did it take to eradicate smallpox?

Answer 1

That depends on how you measure the time. Do you mean from the first time the disease existed until it was wiped out, or from the first time someone demonstrated that a prevention was possible? The disease has existed for an unknown amount of time, but some estimate the beginning at approximately 10,000 BC. The first inoculations were about 1000 BC. Edward Jenner demonstrated how cowpox could protect people from smallpox in 1795. The last known naturally-occurring case of smallpox was in 1977, although someone died after being exposed to the virus in a lab in 1978.

So, 12,0000 years? 3,000 years? 200 years? Or, you could measure from the first time they tried to actually eradicate it on an entire hemisphere. That was 1950, so ... 27 years?