House Hearing on Bioterrorism (Photo : Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Doctor Donald A. Henderson, the doctor who led the World Health Organization (WHO) in beating smallpox in 1977 has died at the age of 87. Reports say that the cause of death is the complications that occurred after a hip fracture.
Henderson became the U.S. bioterrorism expert after wiping out smallpox in 1977. He said that their fight against the disease was never that easy as they have to develop labs around the world to produce vaccines. They also had problems in getting funds and governments refused to help them. Another thing that made their mission challenging is when they have to stop an outbreak as soon as they emerged, as reported by Reuters.
"The most important legacy of smallpox eradication was its demonstration of how many people could be protected through vaccination, so rapidly and inexpensively with a well-planned program and quality-control monitoring," the man was known as "D.A.," said in an interview published by the World Health Organization.
Henderson flew to Belgradein the former Yugoslavia to help end the last smallpox outbreak in Europe in 1972. After beating the disease, he became the dean of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health from 1977 to 1990. He was able to help the school to become a national leader in addressing HIV/AIDS, according to Michael Klag, dean of the school.
The smallpox is perhaps the most deadly disease in history by killing around 300 million people in the 20th century alone. The disease is caused by variola virus. The victims are suffering from extreme pain, fever and other flulike symptoms. The victims also develop a rash of the pustules where the disease got its nickname: the speckled monster. Smallpox killed third of its victims and those who survived were left disfigured and sometimes blind, Washington Post reported.
According to Henderson, smallpox was known as the most loathsome disease. He said that no matter how many visits he made to smallpox wards filled with heavily ill and dying patients, he always came away shaken.
Henderson was appointed by the U.S. President George W. Bush to lead the newly formed Office of Public Health Preparedness in 2001. In 2002, he was awarded the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Henderson died at a Baltimore hospice on Friday.
