Today, smallpox has been eradicated and there is no longer any vaccination against this disease, the injection of which left patients with a lifelong scar.
- The round scar on the arm that many people born before the 1970s have is caused by the smallpox vaccine.
- Smallpox is a highly contagious and deadly disease that has killed millions of people around the world.
- This disease was officially eradicated in 1980.
Smallpox has been considered eradicated since 1980, when the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared this. The health authority then recommended stopping vaccination against this pathology.
A vaccine that left a scar
People born before 1970 in France were necessarily vaccinated against smallpox. Indeed, the vaccine was compulsory then for all children… Today, adults, they still have the traces: a scar on the arm in the shape of a circle which is due to the smallpox vaccine.
At the time, the injection of the product, via a two-pronged needle, caused a blister or blister called a papule. When it healed, it generally left a round-shaped mark on the patient’s arm which never disappeared.
Smallpox, a disease eradicated thanks to vaccination
Smallpox has completely disappeared in humans. The last case was reported in 1977 in Somalia. But throughout history, this highly contagious and deadly disease has killed millions of people, we can read on the website of the MSD Manual.
It was thanks to Edward Jenner, an English doctor, that smallpox vaccine was developed more than 200 years ago, at the end of the 18th century. THE improvement and generalization of smallpox vaccination enabled the global eradication of the disease.
But today, this disease still exists in animals and is called monkey pox or monkeypox. According to WHO“Smallpox vaccination has been shown to prevent or alleviate smallpox, with an effectiveness of 85%.”
Currently, there are three main vaccines that can protect against Monkeypox, according to WHO :
- Dryvax, approved in the 1930s by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA);
- ACAM2000, approved in 2007 by the FDA
- MVA-BN (also called Imvanex, Imvamune or Jynneos) which was more recently developed and is approved by national regulatory authorities in the European Union, Canada and the United States.
According to a WHO reportpublished on November 23, 12,569 cases of monkeypox were recorded between November 1er January and November 12, 2023 in 22 of the 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“This is the highest number of cases ever reported for a year, some in geographic areas that have never previously reported cases of monkeypox, including Kinshasa, Lualaba and South Kivu.”then noted the WHO. There appears to be a significant risk of monkeypox spreading to neighboring countries and around the world.“.
