Abstract:The last case of natural smallpox was recorded in October,
1977. It took humanity almost 20 years to achieve that feat after the World
Health Organization had approved the global smallpox eradication program.
Vaccination against smallpox was abolished, and, during the past 40 years, the
human population has managed to lose immunity not only to smallpox, but to
other zoonotic orthopoxvirus infections as well. As a result, multiple
outbreaks of orthopoxvirus infections in humans in several continents have been
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