LOS ANGELES — Why are we talking about smallpox again?
The virus is estimated to have killed more than 300 million people in the 20th century. But by 1980, thanks to a successful vaccination campaign, it was eradicated. No one today receives routine childhood vaccinations for smallpox, because you can't catch it anymore.
But the disease is back in the public consciousness because of monkeypox. In fact, monkeypox was discovered during the global smallpox vaccination campaign. And the global eradication of smallpox may have created an opening for monkeypox, said Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine
