<P> By the end of 1975 , smallpox persisted only in the Horn of Africa . Conditions were very difficult in Ethiopia and Somalia , where there were few roads . Civil war , famine , and refugees made the task even more difficult . An intensive surveillance and containment and vaccination program was undertaken in these countries in early and mid-1977 , under the direction of Australian microbiologist Frank Fenner . As the campaign neared its goal , Fenner and his team played an important role in verifying eradication . The last naturally occurring case of indigenous smallpox ( Variola minor ) was diagnosed in Ali Maow Maalin , a hospital cook in Merca , Somalia , on 26 October 1977 . The last naturally occurring case of the more deadly Variola major had been detected in October 1975 in a two - year - old Bangladeshi girl , Rahima Banu . </P>
<P> By the end of 1975 , smallpox persisted only in the Horn of Africa . Conditions were very difficult in Ethiopia and Somalia , where there were few roads . Civil war , famine , and refugees made the task even more difficult . An intensive surveillance and containment and vaccination program was undertaken in these countries in early and mid-1977 , under the direction of Australian microbiologist Frank Fenner . As the campaign neared its goal , Fenner and his team played an important role in verifying eradication . The last naturally occurring case of indigenous smallpox ( Variola minor ) was diagnosed in Ali Maow Maalin , a hospital cook in Merca , Somalia , on 26 October 1977 . The last naturally occurring case of the more deadly Variola major had been detected in October 1975 in a two - year - old Bangladeshi girl , Rahima Banu . </P>
when was the last time someone had smallpox
when was the last time someone had smallpox
26 October 1977
26 October 1977