noun
- smallpox, an acute contagious viral disease characterized by fever and a distinctive skin rash
Usage: medical
Examples
- Variola was declared eradicated worldwide by the World Health Organization in 1980.
- The variola virus was one of the most feared pathogens in human history.
- Vaccination campaigns helped eliminate variola from most countries by the 1970s.
- Historical records show that variola outbreaks devastated entire populations.
- The last naturally occurring case of variola was reported in Somalia in 1977.
- Scientists study variola samples stored in secure laboratories for research purposes.