Know Thyself 33: Smallpox

The Adapt or Die Series goes Viral... Egyptians, Hittites, Athenians, Romans -- outbreak after outbreak Variola major has been a pox on our house from time immemorial. No other disease has weakened and crippled empires and wiped entire peoples off the earth like smallpox. It killed 400-500 million in the 20th Century alone. And now, through a millennium-long effort of blowing scab powder, scraping lesions, and really listening to dairy maids, it's gone. Almost.     Artwork: Oz by Ian Armstrong

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