The introduction of viral diseases such as smallpox, during the European contact period, had a profound demographic effect on Amerindian groups. Given what we know today about the natural histories of smallpox and other viral infections (i.e., mode of transmission, incubation period, etc.), I examine a number of sociocultural factors that may have contributed to the spread and/or severity of these diseases among the Huron during the 1634-1640 period.
