Answer:
The smallpox virus has been eradicated through a global vaccination campaign. Smallpox is a highly contagious and deadly disease caused by the variola virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) launched a global smallpox eradication campaign in 1967, which involved mass vaccination and surveillance efforts. This campaign was successful, and the last known natural case of smallpox occurred in Somalia in 1977. The virus was officially declared eradicated in 1980 by the WHO. Following the eradication, routine vaccination against smallpox was discontinued because the disease no longer existed in the general population. Today, only a few laboratories around the world retain smallpox virus samples for research purposes, and there is no known naturally occurring smallpox.