Ancient Egypt: A Brief History Of Smallpox

Smallpox is an extremely deadly disease which, in one point in time, was the most feared disease on the planet. In the book Pox Americana, Elizabeth A. Fenn writes about the encounter with the deadly disease in the 1770's to the 1780's. Her book was first published in 2001 in New York City, where she originally wrote it. Her book contains just under 400 words that explain the disease, some of the first encounters with it, who and where it affected people, and how they got the epidemic under control. Pox Americana is a very informative book that teaches the reader various things.

Smallpox is a disease caused by a poxvirus that is caught from person to person that causes high fever, and rash, that can kill about 1/3 of those who caught the disease. Smallpox (also called variola) is the only disease that has been fully cured. Smallpox is also almost one of the most scary deaths ever. Not one documented naturally occurring case of this very infectious, deadly disease hasn't occurred since 1977. (An unvaccinated hospital cook in Somalia was the last person to naturally contract smallpox.) The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared smallpox eradicated in

Over many of years the world has faced problems concerning health. Many scientists and health experts have worked together to better our nation 's health care. English Physician and Scientist Edward Jenner, a small country doctor, who is well known around the world for his innovative contribution to immunization and the ultimate eradication of smallpox. (2005, Baylor University Medical Center.) It is believed that smallpox appeared around 10,000 B.C. Smallpox was introduced to Europe sometime between the fifth and seventh centuries and was frequently epidemic during the Middle Ages. Edward Jenner was born on May 17, 1749, in Berkeley, Gloucestershire. During his early school years, Edward developed a strong interest in science and nature that continued throughout his life. Jenner’s interest in natural history and animal biology sharpened his medical understanding of the role of human-animal trans-species boundaries in disease transmission. He experienced the proverbial “Eureka”-like moment sometime during the 1770s. At age 13 he was apprenticed to a country surgeon and apothecary in Sodbury, near Bistol. The record shows that it was there Jenner heard a dairymaid say, " I shall never have smallpox for I have had cowpox. I shall never have an ugly pockmarked face." While Jenner 's interest in the effects of cowpox began during his apprenticeshire with George Harwickle, it wasn 't until 1796 before he made the first step in a long process of smallpox would be exposed. Jenner

I looked at everything I could access related to smallpox. The writings included many references to

What is smallpox? The internet has defined it as an “acute contagious immune disease, with fever and pustules (small bumps on the skin filled with pus) that will usually will leave scars.” Smallpox originated in India and Egypt over 3,000 years ago. After that it slowly started to progress to other areas across the world. It then started to show itself in places like Africa, Europe and then after a few years later, finally made it’s way into the Americas during the 1500’s.

The first case of smallpox was found on the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses V in the 3rd Century BCE. After Egypt, in the 4th Century, variola is thought to have spread to China, where people prayed to the god Yo Hoa Long to try to prevent themselves getting sick, of course, this was to no prevail. After spreading to China, because of the increasing trade with Japan and Korea, smallpox spread even further. This deadly pathogen spread quickly, as somebody only needed to be breathed on, and they could be infected. During the 7th century, smallpox was widespread throughout India and was quickly spreading towards northern Africa, Spain, and Portugal because of the expansion of Arabic people. 300 years later, in the 10th century, variola crept into Asia Minor and modern-day Portugal. During the Crusades in the 11th century, smallpox spread further throughout Europe and infect many more unsuspecting people. Smallpox spreads to northern England, which was previously not affected by this deadly disease. When Smallpox spread to Northern England, it caused multiple outbreaks that traveled as far north as Iceland. Smallpox at this point had already killed people from Egypt all the way to Northern Europe and was not stopping there. In the 15th-16th Century, smallpox was spread through Portuguese traders into Africa. European colonization and the African slave trade spread Variola

One of the 1st people to get smallpox was Pharaoh Ramses V. In the year of 1967 over 131,000 cases occurred from 42 countries. Now, no-one has smallpox.

The earliest indicator of smallpox in history is the extensive lesions on three Egyptian mummies. There are also recorded cases from the Hitties (1346 BC), Syracuse (595 BC), Athens (490 BC), China (48AD), Korean Peninsula (583 AD), and Japan (585 AD), however, they are not definite cases because these ancient physicians were unable to distinguish smallpox rashes from other skin rashes. Nevertheless, this distinction was made in 910 AD by physician Al-Razi. As Islam spread across North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, smallpox followed. By 1000 AD, smallpox epidemics were widely recorded from Japan to Spain. In the 16th century, smallpox outbreaks hit large cities such as London and Geneva, and exploration across oceans facilitated the spread of smallpox as well to the Americas, Australia, and South Africa. In the Americas, natives were seen as lesser and put to work in mines and on plantations where the combination of poor working conditions and European disease thinned out their population. This encouraged the importation of slaves from Africa as replacements and eventual establishment of slave trade to the New World. Smallpox outbreaks killed many natives, starting in Hispaniola and spreading to Cuba, the Yucatan, and other parts of Mexico. The spread was almost systematic, and due to the nature of smallpox, affected isolated, indigenous populations. Even after Edward Jenner created a successful vaccine for smallpox, it remained a serious threat, as many people, especially in rural areas were not

A smallpox outbreak could be devastating to the population without proper precautions. There were also a few cases of smallpox outbreaks due to a patient being misdiagnosed. For example, Colette Flight states, "Muzza had been misdiagnosed as suffering from a bad reaction to penicillin". Colette also states, "Janet Parker was infected with smallpox, but was initially diagnosed as a drug rash". We can learn from history that smallpox does spread easily.

Smallpox is a highly contagious infectious disease. The type of microbe for smallpox is the Variola virus. Smallpox is caused by either the Variola major or the Variola Minor. This virus is spread by direct contact. The disease was likely to be in human populations about 10,000 BC. An epidemic broke out in 1519 with the Aztecs and the Conquistadors in Tenochtitlan Mexico. The epidemic killed a total of twenty five percent of the Aztecs population leaving it easy for Cortes and the conquistadors to take over the desired

Smallpox is an acute contagious viral disease, with fever and pustules usually leaving permanent scars. Although there is no cure, there is a vaccine that can help protect you from it. It is called vaccinia and is a poxvirus closely related to the smallpox. Live vaccinia infects the people but it does not make them sick. A smallpox particle can either make or consist of around two hundred different types of protein. In the center of the mulberry of a smallpox particle, there is an odd shape that looks like a dumbbell, this is the

Smallpox doesn’t seem to show as many similar symptoms as typhoid fever. Its symptoms include a very high level of contagiousness, high fever, vomiting, headache, postules, possible blindness, possible male infertility, and immunity to fatal relapse (Kiple). This disease shows symptoms similar to those of the plague, but some are different than those of typhoid. This disease, like typhoid, existed before or at the time of the plague (Kiple). Some cases of smallpox were found in ancient Egypt, which is one of the places where the plague started before it carried over to Greece (Kiple). Kiple writes in his article, “The face, neck, and shoulders of the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses V, who died in 1157 B.C, is disfigured by a rash of elevated postules.” This quote shows that smallpox existed long before the plague and also caused postules similar to those of the plague. There are a couple reasons why it may not have been the cause, but the main is because it did not yield a product when being tested on dental pulps (Papagrigorakis). Another reason is because in some countries, smallpox only affected children, while the plague affected everyone. Then again, if a Pharaoh had been infected, assuming they are an adult, and they brought the disease over to Greece. There is a big chance that smallpox affected all ages in Greece as well, therefore making it a possible cause of the

I found another interesting fact about the smallpox, it can live on cloth for years, therefore it first hit the American Indians prior to ever meeting the European people (Ojibwa, 2009). Consequently, as the American Indians could not cure these diseases with healing part of their religious ceremonies, they began to lose faith. After I read your post, I was interested in finding out if any Europeans educated the American Indians regarding these diseases, such as smallpox, and provided any help with containing the disease. I have found that they did begin a vaccination program for smallpox, for the American Indians around 1800. But, they took care of their own first, the Europeans began vaccination programs for themselves around 1721 (Ojibwa,

The earliest case of smallpox according to a journal published in the US National Library of Medicine titled, “Edward Jenner and the History of Smallpox and Vaccination” was recorded as early as 1122 BC. (Riedel “Smallpox the Origin of a Disease”). Mankind’s triumph over this horrible disease was initiated by an English doctor named Edward Jenner. Through observations and experimentation, Jenner would create a procedure now known as vaccination. (Riedel “Edward Jenner”). During the next two centuries, vaccinations would be used worldwide to stop the spread of small pox. After the successful worldwide vaccination campaign led by the World Health Organization, small pox was eradicated worldwide in 1980. As a result of the eradication of smallpox according

According to my research, in 1796 Dr. Edward Jenner developed a vaccine for smallpox disease however during this time only cows were infected. This vaccine came from the cowpox virus. In 1809, the state of Massachusetts became the first to mandate the smallpox vaccinations then in 1879 a group of Anti-Vaccination of America was formed and their belief is that no one should be forced to vaccination. They believed that the vaccine was spreading the disease instead of preventing it. In 1986