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Article: A shot in the arm: U.S. unveils plans to vaccinate against smallpox. (Cover Story).
- Article from:
- Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- January 10, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Weekly Reader Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WASHINGION, D.C. -- It's one of the feared and deadly diseases. It has hundreds of millions of people and scarred and blinded millions more. It spreads through the air so fast that it can wipe out tens of thousands of people within months. The disease starts out like a mild flu--with a fever and aches and pains. But within days, a pimply rash spreads across the body. Then the rash swell into oozing, puss-filled blisters. A third of those who contract the disease die.
Not long ago, the world thought the dreaded disease of smallpox was gone forever. No one on the planet had contracted the disease since 1977. In 1980, the World Health 0rganization (WHO) announced ...