| Because the symptoms of variola minor were milder, the virus was able to spread more widely. |
| It suggested that immunizing humans against smallpox might protect them against genetically engineered variola as well. |
| Moreover, one cannot be definitively certain that variola is really eradicated. |
| Smallpox vaccine contains live vaccinia virus, a milder cousin of the variola virus. |
| It was this time a success and WHO announced the eradication of variola in 1979, the last case having been announced in 1977 in Somalia. |
| The Smallpox virus, or variola, has been wreaking havoc across the globe for thousands of years. |
