Smallpox β the ruthless killer that haunted humanity for 12,000 years.
It even scarred the mummified face of Pharaoh Ramses V, disfigured Queen Elizabeth I, and nearly took Abraham Lincoln. No throne, no nation, no age was safe.
It struck fast and cruel β fevers, pain, pustules that turned faces unrecognizable.
At its peak, one in three infected people died.
By the 20th century alone, over 300 million lives were lost.