How smallpox devastated the Aztecs – and helped Spain conquer an American civilization 500 years ago
- Written by Richard Gunderman, Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University
A 16th-century Aztec drawing of smallpox victims.
Recent outbreaks in the U.S. have drawn attention to the dangers of measles. The Democratic Republic of Congo is fighting a deadly outbreak of Ebola that has killed hundreds.
Epidemics are nothing new, of course. And some widespread infectious dieseases have profoundly changed the course of human...