A vaccine against smallpox exists, but governments’ supplies have dwindled since the disease was declared eradicated in 1980. Smallpox virus is preserved in laboratories in the United States and ...

The infection, in her right eye, threatened to take her vision. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. A U.K. woman developed a severe ...

The observation that milkmaids are frequently infected with cowpox but rarely catch smallpox is generally credited to the English doctor Edward Jenner. Although Jenner might not have been the first ...

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a beautiful milkmaid. Her face was flawless, her complexion peaches and cream, her smile confident as she bragged, "I shall never have smallpox for I have ...

Two versions of an oral drug that halts the deadly action of smallpox and related orthopox viruses have been shown by researchers in Alabama and California to be effective in cowpox-infected mice, ...

Around thirty Europeans, including twenty French citizens, have recently contracted a viral infection linked to their pet rat. Two reseach teams in Marseille, France, led by Didier Raoult, director of ...

In southern New York state, a dairyman, his wife and their hired man stretched out their hands palm upwards, like suppliants, to Dr. H. P. Senftner, associate director of the state department of ...

It is mind-boggling that researchers still don't know exactly what virus was used in the most successful vaccine ever developed. But the mystery around the identity of the virus used by British ...

Sixteenth century Aztec drawing of smallpox victims. Photo from Wikimedia Commons. One of the most celebrated medical anniversaries concerns a country doctor named Edward Jenner (1749-1823) who lived ...