The Speckled Monster

In 1806 President Thomas Jefferson wrote to Edward Jenner, the developer of the smallpox vaccination, "Future generations will know by history only that the loathsome smallpox has existed." Smallpox afflicted humankind as no other disease had done; during the 20th century, it is estimated that the disease was responsible for 300–500 million deaths. To this day, smallpox is the only human infectious disease to have been completely eradicated from nature. The last cases of smallpox in the world occurred in an outbreak of 2 instances in Birmingham, England in 1978. One of the victims, medical photographer Janet Parker, passed away after contracting the disease. In light of this accident, all known stocks of the virus were either destroyed or transferred to one of two laboratories in the United States or Russia. I can't help but think of Jurassic Park when considering the random instances when smallpox has decided to rear its speckled, pockmarked head - just when you thought the world was safe from attacks... a T-Rex somehow ends up terrorizing San Diego in an awful sequel.

Smallpox is one of history's oldest and fearsome diseases. Many believe smallpox emerged in human populations in 10,000 BC. - the earliest evidence of its deadly mischief is found on the scarred mummified body of Pharaoh Ramesses V of Egypt. Indeed, smallpox affected many people and, in some cases, entire populations as it traveled its pustular, rash-inducing path - before it was eradicated in 1980, smallpox infections affected as many as 15 million people per year. Smallpox had made itself quite comfortable in the immune systems of Europeans by the sixteenth century. As Europe's population increased and packed into cities, smallpox epidemics appeared more frequently and with greater intensity. As another indication of its increasing strength, epidemics in the 1560s crept over the palace walls of several European monarchs of France, Spain, and England.

On October 10, 1562, Queen Elizabeth I of England felt a little under the weather and took a long walk through her gardens to get some fresh air. A few days later, Elizabeth felt feverish and faint, and her advisers called in German-born physician, Dr. Burcot. The doctor correctly informed his queen, "My liege, thou shalt have the pox;" Elizabeth became outraged upon hearing his verdict. Truth be told, Elizabeth was quite narcissistic and the prospect of contracting a disease that would leave her with a badly scarred face most likely frightened her - should she survive the illness at all, that is! Elizabeth's rival, Mary, the queen of Scots, was rumored to be quite beautiful and this, in all likelihood, only fueled Elizabeth's denial that she did not have smallpox. Agitated, the waggish Elizabeth waved Burcot away, "Have away the knave out of my sight," and off the doctor went, feeling slighted.

Hours after Burcot's departure, Elizabeth became incoherent and sank into a coma. From the start of Elizabeth's reign, all of England questioned who the queen would choose to marry. Elizabeth, however, never married and the reasons for her choice are not clear. Indeed, the queen once said, "If I follow the inclination of my nature, it is this: beggar-woman and single, far rather than queen and married." After Elizabeth became increasingly ill, her council became increasingly distressed over who would be their queen's successor should smallpox take her life. Parliament had urged the queen to marry or nominate an heir to prevent civil war upon her death, but Elizabeth did neither. In her feverish state the queen begged the council to appoint Lord Robert Dudley, a childhood friend with whom her affair was widely speculated upon, as her successor. In the interim, two of the queen's servants were sent to summon Burcot from his home; still sore from his earlier interaction with Elizabeth, the doctor initially rejected aiding the queen, "By God's pestilence, if she be sick, there let her die! Call me a knave for my good will!" Touché, Burcot. One of Elizabeth's servants threatened to kill the doctor right then and there if he refused to help the queen, so, reluctantly, Burcot rode his horse to the palace and advised the queen be wrapped in a flannel blanket beside the fireplace in order to keep warm. Burcot also administered medicine and when Elizabeth came to a few hours later, she was furious that red spots appeared on her hands as a result of taking the treatment. Upon hearing her groans, prickly Burcot exploded, "God's pestilence! Which is better? To have a pox on the hand or in the face, or in the heart and kill the whole body?" If only Elizabeth chose to marry Burcot... imagine the tempestuous spats, the screeching that would reverberate off the palace walls!

As a testament to her strong will and plucky ways, Elizabeth recovered in six days. Elizabeth was fortunate - several fellow royal victims and millions of commoners were scarred, blinded, or slain by the disease that historian TB Macaulay called "the most terrible of all the ministers of death." To thank the doctor who saved her life (the queen was not that prideful after all), Elizabeth gifted Burcot with a pair of gold spurs that she inherited from her grandfather, Henry VII, as well as land in Cornwall. Soon, the queen was writing letters to her rival, Mary the queen of Scots, happily letting her know that the disease had not left many scars on her face. Alas, Elizabeth could still compete with Mary's beauty after all (at least until Elizabeth imprisoned and eventually executed her rival in 1587 - I imagine it is not hard to remain more attractive than someone holed up in a sixteenth century prison). After overcoming smallpox, Elizabeth took to painting her face with white lead and vinegar in an attempt to conceal her scars. An inventive, albeit highly poisonous concoction. Regardless of her curious make-up habit and a nasty meeting with one of the deadliest diseases known to humankind, Elizabeth, or The Virgin Queen, as many called her, lived to be 70 years old.