A viral disease affecting goats, characterized by pustules or sores, similar to smallpox.
Compound of 'goat' + 'pox' (from Old English 'pocca' meaning 'pouch' or 'pustule'). Named descriptively for the pox-like symptoms in goat herds.
Goatpox is part of the poxvirus family that includes smallpox and cowpox—and studying these animal diseases in the 1700s is actually how Edward Jenner invented vaccination by noticing milkmaids who got cowpox didn't get smallpox!
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