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And now, from VOA Learning English.
The spread of dangerous diseases around the world is not new.
As trade and colonization expanded worldwide over hundreds of years, so did some dangerous diseases. And smallpox was one of the worst of them.
Happily, smallpox has been eradicated, meaning it does not exist in nature anymore. The story of how smallpox was defeated is closely linked to the English word, “vaccine.”
However, before modern science made that happen, humans had suffered from the disease for a very long time. Researchers even found a 3,000 year old Egyptian mummy with smallpox scars.
Smallpox was a severe and deadly disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes smallpox as devastating.
“On average, three out of every 10 people who got it died. Those who survived were usually left with scars, which were sometimes severe.”
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