Where did smallpox come from?

Answer 1

The smallpox virus is said to have emerged about 10 thousand years BC. The virus' genes suggest that it was once a rodent virus that made its trans-species jump into humans in one of the early agricultural river valleys. Smallpox is thought to have rooted itself early in people living in the river valleys of China. The first clear description of smallpox (by the great Chinese medical doctor Ko Hung) appeared in a Chinese medical text in the fourth century AD. The disease had such a profound effect on human culture that there were deities created in its honor. The Chinese worshiped a goddess of smallpox named T'ou Shen Niang-Niang, who could cure the disease. Like the Chinese with their smallpox goddess, the Hindu religion also has a goddess of smallpox, named Shitala Ma. Mankind has dealt with smallpox throughout our historical record, affecting populations around the globe. The role of this one disease in mankind's history is profound. World history could have been greatly changed had smallpox not been a part of it. Smallpox decimated the Ethiopian soldiers in the Elephant war in Mecca 568 AD. Introduced by slaves carried by Spanish explorers in 1502, smallpox swept through the native populations of the Western Hemisphere, exacting a heavy toll on Amerindian tribes and resulted in the collapse of both the Aztec and Incan empires, enabling European colonization. In 1738, smallpox killed half the Cherokee Indian population. At the end of the 18th century in Europe, an estimated 400 thousand people were dying annually from smallpox.