Is There a Worm on That Branch? Predicting Extinction of Filarial Worm Infections

摘要

The year 2019 marks a number of important anniversaries: 75 years since D-Day, 50 years since both the Stonewall riots and the first moon landing and 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. It also marks 40 years since the global eradication of smallpox - the first infectious disease to be driven extinct by modern medicine. Prior to eradication, smallpox had existed for at least 3000 years and, with up to a 30% mortality rate, was considered one of the most feared human diseases in the world. Now, thanks to a global vaccination campaign, the virus is believed to exist only in two secure laboratories and there have been no reported cases since 1978.