Confronting Emerging Infections: Lessons from the Smallpox Eradication Campaign

About this book

Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1860 said, “Welearn geology the day after the earthquake.”Traditionally, the world learns prevention theday after the epidemic. Today, we have theresponsibility of preparing for the prevention andcontrol not only of known but also unknownconditions. Eradication is a focused field exercisein which approaches have been tested and fromwhich public health lessons can be learned.