The Last Person to Die of Smallpox

The last person to die of smallpox contracted it after melin did. That was janet parker, a medical photographer who was infected on the job at england's birmingham university medical school in 19 78. The microbiology lab was one floor below her dark room, in the office that she used to make phone calls. It is not clear exactly how she came into contact with smallpox virus from the lab. At the time, the prevailing theory was that it was through shared airvent, but later study suggested that that was actually unlikely.