Smallpox
Smallpox had been one of the world's most feared diseases. It killed hundreds of millions of people and scarred and blinded millions more.
Smallpox was once so common that almost everyone had it at some time. During the Middle Ages, smallpox epidemics frequently swept across Asia, Africa, and Europe. In some wars, more soldiers died from smallpox than in combat. Europeans brought the disease to America, and millions of Indians died. Vaccination wiped smallpox out. The last known cases of naturally occurring smallpox were isolated in 1977.
Excerpt adapted from the "Smallpox" article, The World Book Encyclopedia © 1999