Smallpox in Bangladesh, 1970s. 12-year-old girl with a severe case of smallpox. Smallpox is an often-fatal disease caused by the Variola virus. In the late 1970s a worldwide immunisation program eradicated the disease, with the last outbreak being in 1977. It was declared extinct in 1980. Prior to this it killed millions of people each year. Bangladesh was one of the last places where it was eradicated. Ninety-five percent of the 12,000 smallpox cases reported in 1975 occurred there. Movements of people caused by disastrous flooding spread the disease throughout the country. This patient survived the disease. Photographed in 1975, in Dacca, Bangladesh.