Smallpox turned into pandemic because Vikings kept travelling thousand years ago: Study

Smallpox has been one of the most feared and deadly diseases with pandemic potential which has killed millions of people across the world over centuries. The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced the eradication of smallpox in 1980 following a global immunization campaign which went on for several years.

Historian believed that the contagious disease may have existed since 10,000 BC but there was no proof until now. An international team of scientists have discovered that Vikings, travelling from place to place, may have led to the spread of the virus. 

The team of researchers, led by Professor Eske Willerslev, of St John’s College, University of Cambridge, sequenced the genomes of newly discovered strains of the virus extracted from the teeth of Viking skeletons from sites across northern Europe. In a statement published by St John’s College, Willerslev said that the genetic structure of the new strains of smallpox in the teeth of Viking skeletons is different from the modern smallpox virus.

“We already knew Vikings were moving around Europe and beyond, and we now know they had smallpox. People travelling around the world quickly spread Covid-19 and it is likely Vikings spread smallpox. Just back then, they travelled by ship rather than by plane,” said the lead researcher.

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Emergence of smallpox unclear

Professor Martin Sikora, one of the senior authors leading the study, said that the timeline of the emergence of smallpox has always been unclear. However, they have now proved for the first time that smallpox existed during the Viking age, by sequencing the earliest-known strain of the killer virus.

“While we don’t know for sure if these strains of smallpox were fatal and caused the death of the Vikings we sampled, they certainly died with smallpox in their bloodstream for us to be able to detect it up to 1400 years later,” said Sikora, hinting towards the possibility of epidemics earlier than the latest findings.

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(Image: Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo)