Question

Why did they use smallpox as the yardstick to determine which other diseases have the potential to be eradicated? How is polio different from smallpox in terms of ease of eradication? How about malaria? (for example, which characteristics do they share with smallpox and which do they not share)

Answer 1

As small pox is easier to eradicate because it have No natural reservoirs or biological vectors, Duration of infectiousness is limited,
Recovery means permanent immunity
Safe, effective, inexpensive, easily administered, stable, one-dose vaccine
Long-lasting immunity from vaccination.
It was semi easy to eradicate compared to other diseases Smallpox was easier to erradicate so it is known as yardstick.

Yes. Compared to polio, smallpox was much easier to eradicate. A major reason being the nature of polio with only 1 out of approximately 200 cases being symptomatic. For smallpox, every infection resulted in the same clinical manifestation of the disease and this made patients easier to find and isolate.

In contrast to malaria, smallpox was easy to prevent, identify, and monitor. In fact, management and surveillance were essential to the eventual eradication of smallpox

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