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What happened in the 1978 laboratory-linked smallpox cases in England?
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smallpox
Edward Jenner vaccinating his child against smallpox; colored engraving.
In 1978, two cases of smallpox occurred in England that were linked to a laboratory source. These incidents were the only reported cases of the disease between 1977, when the last endemic case was recorded in Somalia, and 1980, when smallpox was officially declared eradicated in the wild.12