Rahima Banu Begum (Bengali: রহিমা বানু বেগম; born 16 October 1972)[1] is the last known person to have been infected with naturally occurring Variola major smallpox, the more deadly variety of the disease.

[6] Her case was reported to the local Smallpox Eradication Program team by an eight-year-old girl, Bilkisunnessa, who was paid 250 taka.

[7][8] Information on the case was forwarded via telegram to Donald Henderson, who led the World Health Organization's (WHO) campaign to eradicate the disease.

[10][11] Scabs of the virus from her body were transferred to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) office in Atlanta, where they are currently stored along with hundreds of other samples.

[16][8] The WHO provided her family with a farm plot, but recent cyclones and rising sea levels have eroded the coastline and excessively salinated the soil.