Friday, June 5th, 2009
Book on the Eradication of Smallpox Launched at Pitt
On Thursday, June 4, 2009, the University of Pittsburgh celebrated the publication of the book, Smallpox: The Death of a Disease, in which D.A. Henderson, MD, chronicles the 10-year fight to eliminate smallpox, the first infectious disease ever eradicated from the human species. The event was sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Center for Global Health, headed by Donald S. Burke, MD, associate vice chancellor for global health and dean of the Graduate School of Public Health. Among the dignitaries in
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Pictured, from left: Donald S. Burke, MD; D.A. Henderson, MD; and the Honorable Tommy Thompson |
Henderson was tapped to lead the decade-long World Health Organization (WHO) endeavor to eradicate smallpox, an effort that involved up to 150,000 workers in 70 nations tracking one of humankind's deadliest diseases through countries ravaged by flood, famine, and war. In 1979, two years after the end of that campaign, the virus that had killed many millions was officially declared to be eradicated.
The University of Pittsburgh commemorated the 30th anniversary of smallpox’s elimination and honored Henderson—now a distinguished scholar in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Center for Biosecurity and a Pitt professor of public health and medicine—with an event to launch his book.
“D.A.'s passion and commitment have transformed public health around the globe,” said Burke. “His decade-long struggle to defeat smallpox was a tremendous success. The program provided a model for international cooperation on health issues for the entire world.”
In 2002, Henderson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. He also has received the National Medal of Science, the National Academy of Sciences’ Public Welfare Medal, shared the Japan Prize with two colleagues, and was knighted by the King of Thailand in 2008.
When Henderson’s work began in 1967, the highly contagious disease infected 10 million people and killed approximately 2 million each year. Even the powerful were not immune; Egyptian pharaoh Ramses V, Russian czar Peter II, and many other rulers died of smallpox. Famous survivors include Mozart, Beethoven, George Washington, and Josef Stalin. George Washington, upon having his army plagued by smallpox during the American Revolution, remarked that his troops had “more to dread [from smallpox] than from the Sword of the Enemy.”
In 1960, Henderson was put in charge of a federal program to prevent smallpox brought to the United States from abroad. The virus had not naturally occurred in the United States since 1949. Nonetheless, smallpox prevention was primarily defensive-quarantine officers would check travelers entering the country, and Henderson proposed attacking smallpox directly in the countries where it thrived.
He was tapped to lead the WHO Smallpox Eradication Unit in 1966. The team was determined to wipe out smallpox in 10 years despite a small budget and infections in scores of countries. Henderson and his colleagues pressed targeted nations for donations and cooperation. They recruited village doctors who couldn't read or write but could quickly diagnose smallpox. Team members in remote areas worked with little support or supervision. Henderson and his staff coped with civil wars, floods, impassable roads, and bureaucratic and cultural obstacles. They also worked through two smallpox outbreaks, the first in Yugoslavia in 1972 and then in India in 1974, the latter being among the worst smallpox outbreaks of the 20th century. Finally, the last naturally occurring case of smallpox was reported in Somalia in 1977, only nine months over the team’s 10 year goal.
Afterward, Henderson worked to contain smallpox cultured in labs around the world and helped develop preparedness programs for biological attacks using smallpox.