Smallpox

Dating back to the 1500’s, the smallpox epidemic, stemming from the variola virus, has ravaged entire populations. It caused the death of  nearly 90 million Native Americans when the Europeans brought it over to the Americas.  Symptoms include body aches, high fevers, and a serious rash that results from fluid-filled bumps that leave extensive scarring on the skin. The disease killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans per year at the end of the 18th century, even though a vaccine was created in 1796. In spite the vaccine, breakouts of this disease persist, most recently in the late 1960s, when two million people died in countries all over the globe.