True, the scourge doesn?t evoke the kind of scare that it used to decades ago. Simply because it spelled death in those days. No other disease has such a long, dramatic, and terrible history as smallpox. It is the first and the only disease to be eradicated from this planet. But it may come back in a different context ? biological warfare.

From ancient Egypt, India and China, smallpox spread around the world. It defeated armies, killed emperors, played havoc with dynasties, helped to establish Buddhism in Japan, and at about the time of Muhammad?s birth, stopped Christian Abyssinians from capturing a still pagan Mecca.

In the 1790s Edward Jenner?s experiments in ?vaccinating? with cowpox brought hope, not only of saving lives but also of eventually eradicating the disease. The practice spread round the world astonishingly fast. It took over 200 years to achieve world-wide eradication. Sadly, now smallpox is the first choices for bio-terrorists.

This book tells the fascinating story of this terrifying disease, from the pustules on the mummy of Ramses V to current anxieties ? a brilliant mixture of history, science and politics.