Sign on a public road in Yorkshire, England, during an outbreak of smallpox in 1953

The WHO smallpox eradication campaign was launched in its intensified form in 1967, and in four years had wiped out smallpox in Latin America. Four more years toppled the disease's last bastion in Asia. The multi-national teams closed in on Somalia, scene of "the last stand". The eradication of smallpox from the world was certified by the Global Commission, an independent panel of scientists drawn from 19 nations, in December 1979 at WHO Headquarters, Geneva.

Some non-endemic countries kept special hospitals ready for the isolation of patients in case smallpox was imported. Sign on a public road in Yorkshire, England, during an outbreak of smallpox in 1953.