text: Thomas Babington Macaulay called this entity the “most terrible of all the ministers of death.
full_question: Thomas Babington Macaulay called this entity the “most terrible of all the ministers of death.” Ian and Jenifer Glynn wrote a 2004 book on the “life and death” of this entity. A counter to this entity was popularized by Mary Wortley Montagu in 18th-Century England. Letters from William Trent, Henry Bouquet, and Jeffrey Amherst indicate that British soldiers attempted to spread this entity among hostile Native Americans by giving them blankets from their hospital ward. For 10 points, name this virulent disease that was formally eradicated in 1980.
first_sentence: Thomas Babington Macaulay called this entity the “most terrible of all the ministers of death.