Edward Jenner and the First Vaccine

The more fake or failed lymph failed to protect people against smallpox, the more cowpox fell into ill repute. “While the deluded patient vainly supposed himself secured from the attacks of the smallpox, his imaginary safety leads him into situations where his life is endangered,” Waterhouse wrote, leaving vaccination open to doubt or “contempt”. The worst failure occurred at Marblehead, Massachusetts, which suffered a disastrous smallpox outbreak during a vaccination campaign. Using “virus” that his seafaring son had taken from a pustule on the arm of a sailor vaccinated in London, Dr. Elisha Story vaccinated his daughter on October 2, 1800. Two weeks later she broke out with what Story believed was cowpox but was actually smallpox. Waterhouse was meanwhile supplying Story with vaccine that was either contaminated or inactive. The epidemic eventually sickened 1,000 people, killing 68 of

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.

Edward Jenner and the Discovery of Vaccines Edward Jenner (1749-1823) trained in London, under John Hunter, and was an army surgeon for a period of time. After that, he spent his whole career as a country doctor in his home county, Gloucestershire (West of England). His research was based on careful case studies and clinical observation more than a hundred years before scientists could explain what viruses and diseases actually were. His innovative new method was successful to such an extent that by 1840 the British government had banned alternative preventive treatments against smallpox. [IMAGE]

In the early 1900’s medicine was making some steps closer into some great improvements for health and better understanding of the human body. Doctors with sufficient knowledge of the human body and cures for diseases and viruses were scarce. People were much more concerned with government and politics, than health and medicine, until one of the greatest and most grotesque lethal pandemics that’s struck the earth in human history. This pandemic the “Spanish Flu” spread so rapidly and had an extremely high mortality rate. This was caused by the close contact of humans and poor cleanliness and sanitation, and the host (virus) and the body taking harsh action

Despite the disappearance of the plague, smallpox still ran rampant throughout the world. The terrible disease continued to kill millions of Europeans every year. An inoculation created in the early 1700s was a somewhat successful solution and thousands of Europeans underwent the operation to engraft their skin with smallpox (Doc 2). However, new, more efficient solution came in the form of Edward Jenner, who created the first smallpox vaccine by collecting cowpox from an infected person and inserting it into another individual’s arm (Doc 6). Edward Jenner’s new vaccine was virtually harmless and was the most efficient vaccination to date. The smallpox vaccine eradicated the disease in Europe and eventually, the entire world. Smallpox was the last great disease that Europeans faced and its elimination allowed Europe’s population to grow and

Ann Becker the author of the article “Smallpox in Washington's Army: Strategic Implications of the Disease During the American Revolutionary War,” discusses in her article of the disease Small Pox affected the how the militaries powers while they fought during the American Revolutionary War. Becker explains how during the war nearly took out a large population of the American military because so many soldiers were impacted by the disease. This then affected how the fought during war. Becker states that the virus was extremely deadly and contagious; she stated “It was the most deforming and lethal of the plague-like epidemics of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.” The soldiers who suffered through this disease, rarely got over it, and

When the Europeans had their first contact to the New World, it had a great impact on the spread of diseases that would wiped more than eighty to ninety percent of indigenous population. Neither Europeans nor Native Americans had medicine to fight the diseases. But Europeans had developed throughout the year’s immunities to fight diseases back in their homeland, so they were in a big advantage over the scarce resource that the Native Americans had. One of the main disease that killed millions of indigenous groups was called smallpox. Europeans had been exposed to many diseases throughout their history, in the Old World it was common for children at a young age to be infected with smallpox. So with advanced treatments with smallpox in the Old World, they had a different perspective on how to control these type of diseases. Many indigenous groups had not developed an immunities to fight smallpox. Reference to the book were it mentions that smallpox specifically means not the disease but the pimpled, pustules appearance which is the most obvious symptom of the disease (Crosby, p 43). As a result, many indigenous groups needed to find refuge due to the high percentage of deaths caused by European conquest and

In a letter to Patrick Henry in 1777, George Washington wrote of Small Pox “I know that it is more destructive to an army in the natural way than the sword”. At times the most minute things have the most immense impact on our lives, such was the smallpox Epidemic of 1775. It is not known how or where the outbreak began, but by 1775 it was raging through Boston. The devastation of Smallpox during 1775 played a key role in the outcome of the revolutionary war and in shaping modern medicine and how we handle diseases. But these medical advances didn't come without terrible sacrifice. Nearly 30% of people living in the Americas or 130,658 would succumb to smallpox. The death rate of Variola Major, which is the common form

Due to lack of funds, George Washington managed to lead his troops to survive the harsh conditions of the Valley Forge winter. Afterwards, they experienced their second obstacle: small pox. Small pox is a European disease, and since the colonists have been isolated from this illness for nearly two centuries (chapter 3, slides), they did not have the immune system to overcome it. George Washington took a gamble and decided to expose the healthy soldiers with the small pox virus, modern day known as vaccination. His gamble paid off, losing only 1 in 50 soldiers to small pox rather than losing a few thousands

Throughout history, diseases have been recorded. Some species were wiped out completely, while others learned to adapt. Small pox is one such disease that has the ability to completely destroy the human population.

A shot was developed by Edward Jenner at the end of the 1700’s to try to put an end to small pox. The death rate of small pox was spiraling out of control so they tried to put an end to it. The small pox shot was the first ever vaccine that was successful and actually cured people (How Small Pox Changed the World). Edward Jenner tested his theory of infected people with the cow pox virus to make them immune to small pox, and it miraculously worked. Before the vaccine was discovered/established small pox had been sweeping the nation and killing a lot of people in its path for approximately three thousand years. Small pox was spread by contact or even through the

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

The first thing the book brings into topic the the small pox disease which first started in 1350 B.C. Killing between three and seven million people! Of the infected people that were fortunate enough to live, most of them were left blind. According to the text in 1717 the small pox disease spread to the west. When this happened people came up with the idea of inoculations. Inoculations is when an infected person purposely spreads the disease to a non infected person, hoping they can build an immunity faster and more efficiently. The disease causes a rash and the rash causes hemorrhaging. after about a week the rash will turn into boils covering the body and filling with puss, which leads them to burst. Leaving scars on survivors. Cow pox was

While others, were only effected by direct contact. It was thought to have been sustainable by even touching clothing or other such items of the infected. Conditions of the fourteenth century were also a contributing factor. Famine had been an arising issue due to the number of overpopulation. Because of this, their immune systems began to weaken. “Europeans were susceptible to disease because many people lived in crowded surroundings in an era when personal hygiene was not considered important” (Dowling). The cities were unsanitary and littered with germs, making it easier to sustain such diseases. Unhealthy habits were conducted and medical advances had not yet been made. Doctors themselves had not known what to advise. No prescriptions had worked. There was no cure to what was happening. Most were not even aware of what was impending upon them. Anything that could would be tried, in hopes of living. People were becoming desperate.

When children are born and for the first two years of their lives, they receive multiple shots and drops of vaccines. These vaccines protect them from getting diseases that were deadly and common in children many decades ago. Vaccine is one of the greatest achievement in medicine history. There were thousands of lives lost in the battle with some of the terrifying diseases like smallpox and polio. Now, after years of vaccine invention, vaccination spread in many countries which helped in eradicate several illnesses. In the United States, each family is required to show their children's immunization chart in order to get accepted in many educational institutes. Parents usually face the decision whether to vaccinate