The Allure of Eradication
Donald Hopkins, MD, MPH
U.S. President Thomas Jefferson's message in 1806 to the discoverer of smallpox vaccination articulated the vision and predicted the outcome and consequences of smallpox eradication, but badly misjudged how long it would take for the world to get there. Even before humankind knew what microbes were, the idea of eradicating a disease was already imagined as the Holy Grail of combating human afflictions. More than two centuries later, smallpox has been eradicated for more than 30 years and the desire to eradicate other diseases is even stronger, but that achievement has not yet been matched for any other disease (campaigns to eradicate Guinea worm disease and polio are underway), although not for lack of trying. It is useful to consider why.
