It all started with an unremarkable trip to grandma’s house in 1970. But two days into the visit, something went terribly wrong. The 9-month-old grandson fell ill. First, a fever. Then, a nasty rash.

In 1775, Washington deployed colonial soldiers who had survived smallpox to retake Boston during a city-wide epidemic.

Throughout the course of human history, one infectious disease (Figure 1) may account for more deaths than any other, perhaps all others combined. Smallpox mortality falls between 20% and 50%. Until ...

Smallpox inoculation (variolation) was widely reported in sub-Sahara Africa before, during, and after the colonial era. The infective smallpox materials and techniques used, as well as the anatomical ...