The Principles and Practice of Disease Eradication

The Balmis Expedition from Spain to the New World in 1806, launched off the heels of Jenner’s publication on vaccinia vaccine a few years previously, was likely the world’s first eradication initiative. The mission was to eradicate the deadly smallpox from the Americas and beyond. That goal, over a century and half later conceptualized and implemented under the guidance of the World Health Organization (WHO), was eventually realized.

The core content of this textbook is designed to reflect the teaching elements of an intensive, one-week eradication course given first to graduate students at the School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in Baltimore, United States, during the summer of 2012. The faculty of four consisted of the two editors of this textbook; Dr. Ciro de Quadros, former smallpox eradicator in Ethiopia and architect of the original polio eradication strategies; and Dr. D.A. Henderson, former head of the global smallpox eradication initiative, WHO. All four of us spent a full week together lecturing and mentoring JHU graduate students. In 2014, under the direction of Dr. Breman, the course was expanded and provided to graduate students at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University. The materials in this textbook reflect the discussions in that course, especially with regards to what the co-editors believe to be the most practical, field relevant experiences and definitions.

Given the rapidly changing medical and development world, this textbook highlights essential issues for success, illustrated by disease-specific case studies.

Joel G. Breman, MD, DTPH, is Senior Scientist Emeritus at Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, and Professorial Lecturer, Epidemiology at Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University. Dr. Breman was the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) principal advisor to the Guinean Smallpox Eradication-Measles Control Program from 1967-1969. From 1972-1976 he was Chief of the Epidemiology Section for the Organisation de Coordination et de Coopération pour la lutte contre le Grandes Endémies (OCCGE), based in Burkina Faso. Dr. Breman was educated at the University of California, Los Angeles; Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California (USC); and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He trained in internal medicine at the USC-Los Angeles County Medical Center, in infectious diseases at the Channing Laboratory, Boston City Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and in epidemiology at the CDC, where he was an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer. Dr Breman was President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from 2019 to 2020.

Jon Kim Andrus, MD, FAAFP, is Professor of Global Health at George Washington University’s Department of Global Health in the Milken Institute of Public Health. Dr. Andrus leads efforts to advocate for the evidence-based use of vaccines in developing countries. Dr. Andrus also serves as Adjunct Professor and Director of the Division of Vaccines and Immunization of the University of Colorado’s Center for Global Health.