The six diseases:
1. Smallpox: The U.S. announced smallpox eradicated in 1972. Less than a decade later, it became the first and only disease eliminated worldwide.
2. Polio: A polio vaccine was unveiled in 1955, and the disease was declared eliminated by 1979.
3. Diphtheria: People first received the vaccine in the 1920s, and the CDC reported less than five cases in the U.S. over the past decade.
4. Mumps: Only a few hundred people in the U.S. contract the disease every year, thanks to a vaccine introduced in 1967.
5. Measles: The CDC recently warned the U.S. could lose its elimination status if the country’s current outbreak continues through the fall.
6. Rubella: Vaccines were first introduced in the 1960s, and the World Health Organization declared rubella eliminated from the Americas in 2015.
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