[The battle against smallpox in Austria].

In Austria activities against smallpox started with variolation, the artificial infection with the smallpox virus, which bore the risk of contracting the disease. In 1800, Lower Austria was the first country in continental Europe to implement Edward Jenner's invention of vaccination with cowpox for mass vaccination. In the beginning vaccination was practised by inoculation from one human being to another. In this paper development of smallpox vaccination from the beginning to it's cessation in 1981 is described.