logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2020
9m 42s

The last smallpox outbreak

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Thousands of people died in India during the world's last major smallpox epidemic. Individual cases had to be tracked down and quarantined to stop the deadly disease spreading. Ashley Byrne spoke to Dr Mahendra Dutta and Dr Larry Brilliant who took part in the battle to eradicate smallpox once and for all.

Photo: Smallpox lesions on the human body. 1973. Credit: Getty Images.

Up next
Apr 2025
The Cu Chi tunnels of the Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese VietCong guerrillas built a vast network of tunnels in the south of the country as part of the insurgency against the South Vietnamese government and their American allies. The tunnel network was a key base and shelter for the North Vietna ... Show More
9m 43s
Today
Colombia's Salt Cathedral
<p>In 1995, a cathedral was built 180m underground in the Zipaquirá Salt Mine in Colombia. </p><p>The idea came from the miners building makeshift altars in the mine in the 1930s, to pray for their safety before starting their shifts. </p><p>It’s now a major tourist attraction, a ... Show More
10m 35s
Yesterday
Toy Story: the first digitally-animated feature film
<p>Released in 1995, this buddy movie about a cowboy doll and a toy astronaut was the first to use entirely computer-generated images. </p><p>The story, about a group of toys who come alive when humans are not around, appealed to audiences around the world.</p><p>In 2017, animato ... Show More
10m 47s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2023
'Speedboat Epidemiology': Eradicating Disease One Person At A Time
Smallpox is a deadly virus. At one point, it killed almost 1 in 3 people who had it. Almost 300 million of those deaths were in the 20th century alone. It was extremely painful, highly contagious and many people thought it would be impossible to wipe out—until it was. <br/><br/>O ... Show More
12m 28s
Sep 2021
The Eradication of Smallpox
Smallpox is a viral disease that has existed for millennia. But it’s now one of only two diseases that’s been eradicated through human activity, and a global plan was enacted to do it. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/list ... Show More
45m 34s
Sep 2023
S8: Pandemic 1918: Eyewitness Accounts from the Greatest medical Holocaust in Modern History
My special guest is author Catherine Arnold who's here to discuss a pandemic in the early 19th century that left bodies all over the place.  Get her book Pandemic 1918 - Eyewitness Accounts from the Greatest medical Holocaust in Modern History on Amazon or your local book store.  ... Show More
47m 37s
Aug 2022
The global monkeypox outbreak amid a pandemic
<p>As much of the world’s focus remained firmly fixed on ending the coronavirus pandemic, another illness was quietly spreading in the background and has now emerged as a global health concern. A few months ago, monkeypox, an infectious viral disease, began cropping up in countri ... Show More
23m 52s
Apr 2021
An Unfinished Lesson
<p>More than a century ago, millions of people around the world died in a massive influenza pandemic. The so-called "Spanish flu" outbreak of 1918 revealed a truth about viruses: they don't just infect us biologically. They also detect fissures in societies and fault lines betwee ... Show More
49m 26s
Mar 2020
The Deadliest Pandemic in Modern History
April 5, 1918. The first mention of a new influenza outbreak in Kansas appears in a public health report. That strain, later called the Spanish Flu, would go on to kill at least 50 million people worldwide. In a time before widespread global travel, how did this disease spread so ... Show More
21m 24s
Apr 2024
Ebola outbreak and the Friendship Train returns
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.It’s 10 years since the world’s deadliest outbreak of Ebola started in West Africa. We hear from a survivor and discuss the legacy of the epidemic with the BBC's global health rep ... Show More
50m 50s
May 2021
La peste, la lucha de los médicos contra la epidemia
Durante siglos se creyó que la peste se transmitía a través del aire y que podía prevenirse o curarse ingiriendo extrañas pócimas, haciendo sangrías, purificando el ambiente mediante aromas o vigilando que no entrara en las ciudades ningún infectado. Durante una epidemia, los méd ... Show More
13m 39s