Who suffered the most from smallpox infections that were noted to have begun early in
the18th century through the latter half of the19th?
“When smallpox strikes a virgin population, such as the Native Americans, the initial
death toll is quite high, particularly among adults and elders” (Ojibwa 2009). Before the
European settlers arrived in North America, the Native American population was basically
healthy. They did not suffer from diseases that were commonly spread by domesticated animals.
Measles, smallpox, and influenza are among the diseases which are closely associated with
domesticated animals. Native Americans did not have domesticated animals and this fact
contributed to fewer opportunities for the transfer of infections from animal stores of diseases to
humans.
Europeans had been caring for domestic animals for centuries, and had a stronger
immunity to diseases commonly associated to domesticated animals. Where the native
population lost as many as 95% of their population to European diseases, the Europeans loss was
far less. Much of the European population had already acquired immunity to small pox through
suffering previous mild cases of it.
“Smallpox first struck American Indians in what is now the United States after 1520. It
was not uncommon for Native people to encounter the deadly European diseases long before
