Rahima Banu Begum ( bn, রহিমা বানু বেগম; born 16 October 1972) is the last known person to have been infected with naturally occurring ''Variola major''
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) ce ...
, the more deadly variety of the disease.
Biography
The disease
The case was reported on 16 October 1975, when Banu was three years old, and living in the village of Kuralia on
Bhola Island
Bhola Island (also called Dakhin Shahbazpur) is the largest island of Bangladesh with an area of 1,441 km2. It is most of the land area of Bhola District in Barisal Division.
Geography
It is situated at the mouth of the Meghna River. The ...
in the
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...
i district of
Barisal
Barisal ( or ; bn, বরিশাল, ), officially known as Barishal, is a major city that lies on the banks of the Kirtankhola river in south-central Bangladesh. It is the largest city and the administrative headquarter of both Barisal Di ...
. Her case was reported by an eight-year-old girl, Bilkisunnessa, who was paid 250
taka.
Information on the case was forwarded via
telegram
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
to
D.A. Henderson, who led the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...
's (WHO) campaign to eradicate the disease. The WHO team arrived and cared for Banu, who made a full recovery. On 24 November 1975 she was declared free of the virus. Scabs of the virus from her body were transferred to the
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) office in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...
, where they are currently stored along with hundreds of other samples. Everyone on the island who might have come into contact with the infected were vaccinated, while the island was searched to find others who might still be infected. The strain from her sample is known as Bangladesh 1975 formally and the Rahima strain informally.
Later life
Banu created income for her family by posing for photos. In an interview in 2009, Banu said she had four children after marrying a farmer at the age of 18. She said that villagers and her in-laws treated her poorly because she had suffered from smallpox.
Banu is a housewife and her husband, Rafiqul Islam, is a day laborer and rickshaw puller.
The World Health Organization bought her a piece of land but most of that was swallowed by the river.
The area she lives in also saw an increased salination of the water and soil making farming difficult.
See also
*
Ali Maow Maalin, last person infected with naturally occurring ''Variola minor.''
*
Janet Parker
The 1978 smallpox outbreak in the United Kingdom resulted in the death of Janet Parker, a British medical photographer, who became the last recorded person to die from smallpox. Her illness and death, which was connected to the deaths of two oth ...
, last known person to die from smallpox
References
External links
The village of Kuralia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banu, Rahima
Living people
1972 births
Smallpox eradication
Bangladeshi women
People from Bhola District