/oss/taxonomy/term/2447/all en /oss/article/health-science-science-everywhere-you-asked/around-1000-bc-chinese-monk-introduced-idea-blowing-substance-nose-people-protect-them-smallpox-what <p>A powder made from the scabs of pustules on the skin of people who had survived smallpox. The eradication of this horrific disease, which is thought to have first appeared around 10,000 B.C., is one of the greatest triumphs of medicine. The last recorded case of smallpox occurred in Somalia in 1977 and the world hasn’t seen a single case since. How did this triumph come about? Simple. Vaccination! </p> Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:46:14 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1893 at /oss