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HarryHacker42 t1_jed9408 wrote

Smallpox is an offshoot of a horse/camel disease, so no horses meant no smallpox which meant the natives were unprepared when the Europeans and others brought smallpox and horses.

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The-Crawling-Chaos t1_jedv5my wrote

Horsepox is not contagious to humans. Cowpox is, and it shares some acquired immunity with smallpox. Smallpox is believed to have evolved from a rodent poxvirus. Smallpox is not known to infect horses (or any other nonhumans).

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