As we worry about a possible flu pandemic, it is heartening to read about the one germ we did defeat (Image: Prometheus Books) 1969: the Smallpox Eradication and Measles Control Program was underway in Niger, West Africa (Image: CDC / Dr. J. D. Millar) A transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of smallpox viruses (Image: CDC / Phanie / Rex Features)
I FIRST met D. A. Henderson at the World Health Organization’s headquarters in Geneva in 1984, shortly after the ancient scourge of smallpox had been officially eradicated by the campaign that Henderson masterminded. One of the biggest killers in history,…
