Smallpox Found in Lithuanian Mummy Could Rewrite Virus' History

The mummy of a child discovered in a crypt beneath a Lithuanian church harbors the oldest sample found to date of the virus that causes smallpox, a new report said. But the researchers' analysis of the virus, called the variola virus, suggests that smallpox first appeared in humans much more recently than thought, the researchers said. Scientists had thought that smallpox was an ancient disease that plagued humanity for millennia.