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Smallpox: The Death of a Disease - The Inside Story of Eradicating a Worldwide Killer
For more than 3000 years, hundreds of millions of people have died or been left permanently scarred or blind by the relentless, incurable disease called smallpox. In 1967, Dr. D.A. Henderson became director of a worldwide campaign to eliminate this disease from the face of the earth.
This spellbinding book is Dr. Henderson’s personal story of how he led the World Health Organization’s campaign to eradicate smallpox—the only disease in history to have been deliberately eliminated. Some have called this feat "the greatest scientific and humanitarian achievement of the past century."
In a lively, engrossing narrative, Dr. Henderson makes it clear that the gargantuan international effort involved more than straightforward mass vaccination. He and his staff had to cope with civil wars, floods, impassable roads, and refugees as well as formidable bureaucratic and cultural obstacles, shortages of local health personnel and meager budgets. Countries across the world joined in the effort; the United States and the Soviet Union worked together through the darkest cold war days; and professionals from more than 70 nations served as WHO field staff. On October 26, 1976, the last case of smallpox occurred. The disease that annually had killed two million people or more had been vanquished–and in just over ten years.
The story did not end there. Dr. Henderson recounts in vivid detail the continuing struggle over whether to destroy the remaining virus in the two laboratories still that held it. Then came the startling discovery that the Soviet Union had been experimenting with smallpox virus as a biological weapon and producing it in large quantities. The threat of its possible use by a rogue nation or a terrorist has had to be taken seriously and Dr. Henderson has been a central figure in plans for coping with it.
New methods for mass smallpox vaccination were so successful that he sought to expand the program of smallpox immunization to include polio, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, and tetanus vaccines. That program now reaches more than four out of five children in the world and is eradicating poliomyelitis.
This unique book is to be treasured—a personal and true story that proves that through cooperation and perseverance the most daunting of obstacles can be overcome.
This spellbinding book is Dr. Henderson’s personal story of how he led the World Health Organization’s campaign to eradicate smallpox—the only disease in history to have been deliberately eliminated. Some have called this feat "the greatest scientific and humanitarian achievement of the past century."
In a lively, engrossing narrative, Dr. Henderson makes it clear that the gargantuan international effort involved more than straightforward mass vaccination. He and his staff had to cope with civil wars, floods, impassable roads, and refugees as well as formidable bureaucratic and cultural obstacles, shortages of local health personnel and meager budgets. Countries across the world joined in the effort; the United States and the Soviet Union worked together through the darkest cold war days; and professionals from more than 70 nations served as WHO field staff. On October 26, 1976, the last case of smallpox occurred. The disease that annually had killed two million people or more had been vanquished–and in just over ten years.
The story did not end there. Dr. Henderson recounts in vivid detail the continuing struggle over whether to destroy the remaining virus in the two laboratories still that held it. Then came the startling discovery that the Soviet Union had been experimenting with smallpox virus as a biological weapon and producing it in large quantities. The threat of its possible use by a rogue nation or a terrorist has had to be taken seriously and Dr. Henderson has been a central figure in plans for coping with it.
New methods for mass smallpox vaccination were so successful that he sought to expand the program of smallpox immunization to include polio, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, and tetanus vaccines. That program now reaches more than four out of five children in the world and is eradicating poliomyelitis.
This unique book is to be treasured—a personal and true story that proves that through cooperation and perseverance the most daunting of obstacles can be overcome.
334 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
July 26, 2017
Extraordinarily riveting. It took me months to get through this; I kept having to rage-walk it off. Having worked on an eradication campaign at the end of the earth, let me tell you - this is it, highs and lows and mind-numbing bureaucracy in between. The helicopter pilot held for ransom by a rebel group who managed to vaccinate his captors; the pointless second staff of clerks sequestered in a secret office; the work-loopy inspiration behind "The Order of the Bifurcated Needle"; Bill Foege co-opting his missionary radio station for case reporting; the completely-happenstance alert to an outbreak from a retired CDC epidemiologist watching the news; that the last-ever case worked as a smallpox vaccinator but had never been vaccinated himself. It's all impossible to make up.
D.A.'s vivid profiles of those who made the impossible happen demonstrate the care and espirit de corps essential to the effort. I wished desperately for more profiles of local fieldworkers; alas, those stories are difficult to appropriately assess as an international director. (His spare but choice words for the others are of a similar caliber: "regrettably ineffectual" is now a favorite in my lexicon.)
D.A.'s vivid profiles of those who made the impossible happen demonstrate the care and espirit de corps essential to the effort. I wished desperately for more profiles of local fieldworkers; alas, those stories are difficult to appropriately assess as an international director. (His spare but choice words for the others are of a similar caliber: "regrettably ineffectual" is now a favorite in my lexicon.)
April 19, 2010
Interesting story of the WHO drive to eradicate smallpox. Turns out the most difficult problems were project management, logistics and ego-management problems. Just the right ammount of detail to keep it interesting and let you learn something without becoming bogged in tedious minitua.
February 7, 2020
A remarkable tale of a public health triumph that fills me with awe and hope. Humbly and accessibly written, Henderson tells you the story of the eradication of smallpox and all of the science and politics that are a part of that story without bogging you down. Very readable without loosing any of it's impact or how thorough it is in telling it's story. Smallpox eradication paved the way for public health as we know it today. Without the success of that project, it is hard to say if the international vaccination campaigns we take for granted would exist. Amazing. Get your vaccines and send a thought of thanks to the WHO for all that they do.
** This book also has it's sprinkles of wit and humour all throughout, there wasn't a chapter that went by where I didn't crack a smile.
** This book also has it's sprinkles of wit and humour all throughout, there wasn't a chapter that went by where I didn't crack a smile.
December 2, 2020
Great inside account of an unequaled triumph in global medicine--the eradication of smallpox. Lots of eyebrow-raising details about the perils in the field and in the boardroom.
January 29, 2021
Spectacular, rich, thrilling, wrenching history of the greatest public health success in history.
January 5, 2021
A clear, factual account of what is probably the single greatest achievement in the history of humanity. It's hard not to contrast the sheer effectiveness of what Donald Henderson (and his team) achieved in the 1970s with the chaos we're currently seeing globally with regard to COVID vaccinations. There are several moments that really stand out - his straightforward descriptions of the sheer bloody-minded incompetence of some of the regional WHO offices, and the efforts his team went to to achieve their goal despite the existing bureaucracy are probably the most interesting part to most Western readers. It's also just a tale of hope - a large number of the people who were obstructing the eradication efforts were doing it for the (seemingly) reasonable reason that they didn't think eradication was an achievable goal, and so didn't want to waste resources. There's a real lesson to learn here - even if eradication at the time was a long shot, it has paid for itself many hundreds of times over by now, even if you just count the savings in vaccinations in the past 40 years. Sometimes ambitious things are worth doing, even if they don't seem likely to succeed.
August 23, 2018
A very interesting book about a disease almost all have forgotten. Variola was the main killer among infectious diseases but due to the efforts of the author, his colleagues and many unnamed assistants we don't have to vaccinate our children and no-one around us has pox-marks. Even the spell-checker doesn't recognize the word Variola. :)
Henderson doesn't save truths - the doubts of the WHO leaders, their unwillingness to start a campaign which may save millions but will harm their reputation in case of failure, the corrupted health authorities which hide cases to stand out as perfect.
The author tells also about the present-day concerns about smallpox and the possibility to use it as bio-weapon.
I would recommend this book to everyone who is interested in infectious diseases history.
Henderson doesn't save truths - the doubts of the WHO leaders, their unwillingness to start a campaign which may save millions but will harm their reputation in case of failure, the corrupted health authorities which hide cases to stand out as perfect.
The author tells also about the present-day concerns about smallpox and the possibility to use it as bio-weapon.
I would recommend this book to everyone who is interested in infectious diseases history.
April 14, 2012
Really really slow going for the first third, but picks up halfway through with discussion of the eradication programmes in different countries and countries, and the potential use of smallpox as a biological weapon. Did drag in places - I've definitely read more interesting books on viruses before. There's a great story to be told, but I just don't think this book got there.
September 12, 2019
I read the beginning 25% and ending 25% of the book and skimmed a bunch in the middle.
There was a lot of interesting stuff in here. I didn't know too much about smallpox before reading this book. I think it was a bit too much detail that dragged down the narrative of the book. If this was a quick 150 page book I think it would've worked a lot better. Then again it was already a sort of summary from the 1500 page book that was published about the eradication of smallpox.
Some of the interesting things are thinking about why in the world countries would ever want to develop chemical weapons. It seems like such a terrible idea/thing to do.
Overall it was pretty interesting and I learned a lot (also on why smallpox could be eradicated while many other diseases haven't had much success).
There was a lot of interesting stuff in here. I didn't know too much about smallpox before reading this book. I think it was a bit too much detail that dragged down the narrative of the book. If this was a quick 150 page book I think it would've worked a lot better. Then again it was already a sort of summary from the 1500 page book that was published about the eradication of smallpox.
Some of the interesting things are thinking about why in the world countries would ever want to develop chemical weapons. It seems like such a terrible idea/thing to do.
Overall it was pretty interesting and I learned a lot (also on why smallpox could be eradicated while many other diseases haven't had much success).
November 26, 2018
The story of smallpox from the man in charge. Henderson gives credit where credit is due, by name, and points to when failures were occurring, always without naming the culprit. The story of smallpox eradication shows that the main hurdle of an effort like this is not only finding a disease that is actually practical to eradicate, but also the political forces that oppose the efforts. A must read, especially for those of us who have never seen a live case of smallpox. What these people did across the world was an incredible feat.
August 14, 2017
One of the very best books that I have ever read about one of our greatest achievements as a species.
June 26, 2019
Sounded like a great story but the author was too wordy
December 15, 2020
Dry, yet written in simple prose.
January 18, 2021
I've read it for the second time this year. With a concise speech and rich content, this is definitely one of my favorite books so far.
March 16, 2021
Poorly written narrative of the WHO programme to eradicate smallpox. Worthy but absolutely dull. The best part is the foreword by Richard Preston.
October 9, 2022
Fascinating account of the smallpox eradication campaign. I learned a lot.
January 15, 2010
The eradication of smallpox is so inspiring in itself that any book that chronicles the process, particularly from the point of view of the WHO director of the eradication initiative, is bound to be interesting. Henderson's writing is serviceable, though not particularly eloquent. Still, it was lots of fun to read about how the WHO approached organizing the eradication movement. The most interesting chapter discusses the period immediately after the last smallpox case was contained and the WHO had to confirm eradication.
p.s. I got a signed copy of the book at the end of my MPH year!
p.s. I got a signed copy of the book at the end of my MPH year!
November 1, 2009
Interested in eradicating a disease from the planet? You should probably read how D.A. Henderson and his staff accomplished the eradication of smallpox during his leadership at CDC. On a personal note, he used to be the dean at JHSPH and I have seen him speak on several occasions about the topic. Great, intelligent, and practical man.
March 30, 2015
I found I didn't have the stamina to read this whole book, so I just read the parts on the history of smallpox, as well as the life cycle and transmisison of the disease.
It was interesting, but at the end of the day, I didn't have passion for all the names and policy involved in eradicating smallpox.
It was interesting, but at the end of the day, I didn't have passion for all the names and policy involved in eradicating smallpox.
Want to read
June 16, 2009I got my copy autographed by the author! Let's just say when I realize my dream of creating Public Health Hero Trading Cards, D.A. Henderson will be a Super Hero edition. Good book so far, too, although you clearly can't count on an unbiased opinion from me. ;-)
November 10, 2009
The history of the entire worldwide effort to eradicate smallpox. Because of the scope of the program, the book is an overview and doesn't focus in much detail on any of the specific regions. But there still is a lot of information packed into this conversational narrative.
Want to read
October 8, 2009As seen in
Nature Medicine
.
Currently reading
January 6, 2010So far this book hasn't grabbed me as much as other popular science medical books (like The Hot Zone or The Coming Plague). I keep putting it down and not picking it back up.
May 23, 2021
a brilliant account of the most monumental undertaking in human health
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews