'Extinct' simply means there are no reported cases of a disease (or sightings of an animal or plant or bacteria, etc) known for a given amount of time -- it does not mean the 'thing' in question is permanently or irretrievably gone. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) has arbitrarily set 25 years as the line for declaring a disease extinct. Since there has been no case of smallpox, worldwide, reported in the past 25+ years, it has been declared eradicated (i.e. extinct). However, that said, the small pox virus does still exists in quarantine, in an undisclosed lab someplace in the world. This is necessary for scientific research into combating potential future outbreaks of smallpox (despite their unlikely occurrences) or smallpox-like diseases. Furthermore, with recent advances in genetic engineering, the possibility of someone, one day very soon, having the ability to engineer and sequence the smallpox genome again (or something similar) from common lifeless chemical sources will inevitably make the return of smallpox to humanity possible, despite it being declared extinct right now.
Smallpox was a virus.
Immunization against smallpox has, for centuries, been infection with live vaccinia virus.
Smallpox contains DNASmallpox is a virus, and therefore, can only have RNA or DNA. In the case of smallpox, it contains DNA. Viruses require a host to supply them with either RNA or DNA in order that more virus entities can be made.DNA
variola virus
Smallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor
Globally across the world, yes. Although, there could still be smallpox virus but frozen somewhere across the world.
A virus.
Smallpox is caused by the variola major virus
Smallpox is caused by a virus. The technical name for it is variola.
Smallpox has been eradicated through the effective Intensified Smallpox Eradication Programme, initiated by the World Health Organization. On 26 July 1978, WHO announced the eradication of the smallpox strain Variola Minor. The more deadly strain, Variola Major, had been eradicated several years earlier, in 1975. There remains a stockpile of the virus in storage in 600 frozen vials in Atlanta and Russia. This has been deemed necessary, in case further vaccines are required in the future. This stockpile was supposed to be destroyed on 31 December 1993, but on 23 December 1993, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia reversed their decision, announcing that the remaining virus stockpile would not be destroyed, so as to enable scientists to continue studying the disease.
smallpox was the first virus that was vaccinated for
smallpox