Question 1

True or false: The smallpox vaccine was invented by Louis Pasteur.

Accepted Answer

False. False. Edward Jenner developed the first smallpox vaccine in 1796 using cowpox; Pasteur worked on rabies later.

Question 2

True or false: The World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated in 1980.

Accepted Answer

True. True. The WHO made the official declaration on May 8, 1980, after a global vaccination campaign lasting over a decade.

Question 3

True or false: Smallpox could be eradicated again if it ever reemerged in nature.

Accepted Answer

False. False. The virus still exists in labs; eradication would require a new global effort, and immunity has waned since vaccination stopped.

Question 4

True or false: Smallpox was eradicated primarily using antiviral drugs.

Accepted Answer

False. False. No antiviral existed; eradication relied on the smallpox vaccine and ring vaccination strategies.

Question 5

True or false: Smallpox is the only human disease ever eradicated globally.

Accepted Answer

True. True. Rinderpest is an animal disease; smallpox remains the only human disease wiped out worldwide through vaccination.

Question 6

True or false: The Soviet Union secretly stockpiled smallpox virus for bioweapons after eradication.

Accepted Answer

False. False. This is a common myth; the Soviet bioweapons program did weaponize smallpox, but the virus was officially stored only in the US and Russia.

Question 7

True or false: Smallpox eradication cost less than a billion dollars in total.

Accepted Answer

True. True. The total cost was about $300 million, saving billions annually in vaccine and treatment costs.

Question 8

True or false: The last known natural case of smallpox was in a hospital cook in Somalia.

Accepted Answer

True. True. Ali Maow Maalin, a hospital cook in Somalia, was the last person infected naturally in 1977.

Smallpox eradication Trivia Questions