By Kevin E. Noonan — One of the signal public health achievements/victories of the 20th Century is the eradication of smallpox (variola virus, VARV) announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1980; it has been estimated that smallpox infection killed 300-500 million people in the 20th Century alone. (A compelling example of the effects of smallpox in 18th Century America can be found in Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-1782, by Elizabeth A Fenn.) Fortuitously arriving before the advent of antivaxxers, the Internet, and proliferation of misinformed (at best) amateurs on social media, WHO, supported by most…
