An Important Anniversary

No, that’s not Halloween makeup.  That is what smallpox looks like.  Most people alive today have never seen this disease, which killed several million people per year in the first half of the 20th century.  The reason we’ve never seen it is because starting in 1950, the governments of the world decided that enough was enough, and went on a global crusade to wipe it out.  Unlike most global crusades, this one actually worked.

On this day in 1977, the last case of smallpox was diagnosed.

Since then, no person has had to endure the painful, debilitating, and often fatal virus.  How was this horrible disease destroyed?  Through organic diets, homeopathy, application of magic crystals, and prayer.  A vaccine.

Keep that in mind the next time some dingbat celebrity tries to tell you vaccines are the devil and that your children will be healthier if treated with happy thoughts and unicorn farts.  We’ve been free of smallpox for 32 years.  Hopefully in another 32, we’ll have eliminated more maladies and avoided more pointless suffering.  If we do, it will be through science and legitimate medicine, not through nonsense and quackery.  (via Discover Magazine)