How Rahima came to hold a special place in smallpox history — and help ensure its end

Rahima Banu, pictured with her mother in Bangladesh in 1975, is recorded as having the last known naturally-occurring case of the deadly form of smallpox. (Daniel Tarantola/WHO)

More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, people are getting used to the idea that the virus isn't going to disappear. Scientists predict that COVID will likely become endemic, a permanent part of our lives that we'll have to learn to live with and manage.

In fact, only one human disease has ever been completely eradicated: smallpox.