Child mummy offers revised history of smallpox

A child mummy from the 17th century, found in a crypt underneath a Lithuanian church, was discovered to harbour the oldest known sample of the variola virus that causes smallpox.

This research puts a new perspective on a very important disease.

Professor Edward Holmes

An international team including the University of Sydney have published research suggesting smallpox – a pathogen that caused millions of deaths worldwide – may not be an ancient disease but a much more modern killer that went on to become the first human disease eradicated by vaccination.

The genetic research, published in the journal Current Biology, raises questions about the role smallpox may have played in human history.

The findings also fuel a longstanding debate about when the virus that causes smallpox, variola,Another Premier League player appears to have gone on strike after Leonardo Ulloa made is clear he will not play for Leicester City again, having been denied the move that he was promised by manager Claudio Ranieri. The striker went as far as to say that he has been 'betrayed' by Ranieri, and will now try and force a deadline day move by refusing to play for the club again. This could turn out to be one of the more bizarre stories of deadline day...