Pandemic smallpox was responsible for 300–500 million deaths. As recently as the early 1950s, an estimated 50 million cases of smallpox occurred in the world each year. After successful vaccination campaigns throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the WHO certified the eradication of smallpox in December 1979. To this day, smallpox is the only human infectious disease to have been completely eradicated, and one of two infectious viruses ever to be eradicated. Historically, measles was prevalent throughout the world, as it is highly contagious. According to the U.S. National Immunization Program, 90% of people were infected with measles by age 15.
Qapqal disease Qapqal disease Qapqal disease was a infectious disease among Sibe people in Qapqal, Xinjiang, China. The local endemic outbreaks were first reported in 1958, and they were eradicated soon after the identification of them as cases type A botulism. After the liberation of 1949, a mysterious plague was noticed to be affecting severy Sibe villages in Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County. It was endemic with distinctive epidemic patterns, yet the underlying cause remained unknown for a long period of time. It caused a number of deaths and forced some people to leave the place. In 1958, a team of experts were