smallpox

American  

[smawl-poks] / ˈsmɔlˌpɒks /

noun

Pathology.

1. an acute, highly contagious, febrile disease, caused by the variola virus, and characterized by a pustular eruption that often leaves permanent pits or scars: eradicated worldwide by vaccination programs.

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smallpox British  

/ ˈsmɔːlˌpɒks /

noun

1. Technical name: variola.  an acute highly contagious viral disease characterized by high fever, severe prostration, and a pinkish rash changing in form from papules to pustules, which dry up and form scabs that are cast off, leaving pitted depressions

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smallpox Scientific  

/ smôl′pŏks′ /

1. A highly infectious and often fatal disease caused by the variola virus of the genus Orthopoxvirus and characterized by fever, headache, and severely inflamed skin sores that result in extensive scarring. Once a dreaded killer of children that caused the deaths of millions of Native Americans after the arrival of European settlers in the Americas, smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980 following a worldwide vaccination campaign. Samples of the virus have been preserved in laboratories in the United States and Russia.

2. Also called variola

3. See Note at Jenner

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smallpox Cultural  

1. An acute and infectious disease caused by a virus and now almost completely eradicated. Smallpox was characterized by high fever and large sores on the body that leave scars.

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Discover More

Today, the smallpox virus exists only in laboratories.

A surface with many blemishes is sometimes said to be “pockmarked” because it resembles the skin of a smallpox sufferer.

The use of smallpox is a major concern in the area of bioterrorism (see also bioterrorism).

Smallpox is the first disease of humans to be completely eradicated by a worldwide campaign of inoculation.

Etymology

Origin of smallpox

First recorded in 1510–20; small + pox

Example Sentences

It’s caused by a virus in the same family as smallpox, though it’s less contagious and less dangerous.

From Barron's • Mar. 17, 2026

“The Doctors’ Riot of 1788” centers on the New York incident but also tells the broader story of medicine in the early American republic, including quack cures and smallpox panics.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 5, 2026

Their long-term goal is to test these mpox and smallpox vaccine antigens and antibody treatments in humans.

From Science Daily • Dec. 12, 2025

The U.S. has eradicated only one human infectious disease, which is smallpox, and that was done through vaccination, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 22, 2025

But he was the first modern researcher to put it together with the fact that smallpox visited before anyone in South America had even seen Europeans.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann