Smallpox Occur In The 1800s

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]

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

During the Revolutionary War, one of the main fears were not the enemies bullets, but fear of disease. One of the major viruses that people had to fear was smallpox. The continental army had more to fear than the British in the fact that British had been immunized, and the continental army had not. This was only the beginning of the problems from the smallpox epidemic that broke out in America.

During the 1800s, there was several diseases affecting people left and right. “Diseases such as tuberculosis, smallpox, measles, chickenpox, cholera, whooping cough and influenza, among others” (“1800s: My Place, Diseases”) were some of the known diseases that would cripple or cause death to multiple people. Often Plantation owners and their slaves would have the same diseases, but plantation owners had a higher chance at surviving than slaves did. Doctors would prescribe the same treatment to anyone with a disease, usually natural herbs or bleeding out. Doctors from England that lived in America could no longer visit England for medical advice after the Revolutionary War, so several doctors started to improvise with many different remedies

Edward Jenner invented a vaccine by using a naturally-acquired and mild cowpox to prevent smallpox. More than one thousand people were vaccinated in England alone within three years. The print media played an important role in spreading the word about these vaccinations and smallpox was finally eradicated in 1980 (Bouldin, 2010).

However, Jenner’s invention became a common practice only a few years after he released it to the public, and according to The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia, “By 1890 smallpox had virtually been eradicated from Britain.” (“Jenner, Edward (1749-1823)”) From the information about the first vaccination, we can see that vaccinations have been proven to eliminate deadly diseases, whether they receive opposition or not. Without immunizations, we would be overcome with diseases, such as smallpox, polio, and measles.

With the major strides in medicine that have come about in the last few decades, the notion of a plague seems to be becoming less of a possibility and more a thing of antiquity. Around the latter half of the 20th century, doctors thought that disease as a whole would be eradicated with the new vaccinations and antibiotics that were being produced. For the first time in history it seemed as if diseases were under control. It was not long before the arrogance of modern medicine found new epidemics that were not so easily cured. To this day the only disease to be eradicated is smallpox, which was announced in the 1980s. Decades after achieving the eradication of small pox in nature, new pathogens like SARs, AIDS/HIV,

Millions of deaths were caused by smallpox through the 20th century. Catching smallpox was easy as catching a cold. A piece of cloth, blood, etc could all be fatal. In 1796 physician Edward Jenner discovered the first working vaccine to cure smallpox. Jenner placed cowpox into a boys arm. He later introduced the smallpox virus to the boy and he didn't fall ill with the disease.

Eradication is the concept that a disease is entirely eliminated in a region. (Carter n.d.) Only one infectious disease to date, smallpox, has been categorized as eradicated worldwide (CDC 2010). How did this eradication occur? From 1958 to 1965 all fifty states enacted legislation mandating school age children receive the smallpox vaccine (College of Philadelphia). Consequently, by 1971, no smallpox cases had been reported in the United States for 20 years. The last known smallpox case in the world was in Somalia in 1977 (CDC 2010). Even though small pox is the only listed eradicated disease, the Carter Foundation has listed six other diseases as having the potential to be eradicated: lymphatic filariasis (Elephantiasis),

Although most people think Edward Jenner was the first person to attempt a vaccination, this is not true. The earliest vaccinations started in the 7th century when snake venom was drank by Buddhists to try to gain immunity from snakebites. In 1796, Edward Jenner, a doctor in England, discovered he could give people immunity to smallpox by injecting them with material from cowpox lesions. Smallpox was a significant disease in most countries and killed millions of people in Europe and Mexico. Steps had already been taken to eradicate smallpox but it was Jenner who discovered using cowpox to immunize against smallpox as being the safest method. Using smallpox to create the vaccine was not safe so Jenner’s idea helped to save many people. This was the beginning of developing vaccines to keep people safe from diseases that were capable of wiping out entire populations. This

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

Smallpox epidemics had struck the tribes of the Upper Missouri at least twice before the terrible epidemic of 1837. The earlier epidemics of 1781 and 1801 took the lives of thousands of Mandans, Hidatsas, and Arikaras and forced them to move north to re-build their villages near the mouth of the Knife River. However, not long after the earthlodge villages became established on the Knife, they experienced the worst smallpox epidemic

Today most children in the United States live a much healthier life and parents live with much less anxiety due to vaccinations. More than 200 years ago, Edward Jenner conducted an experiment that would be one of the most astounding breakthroughs in medical history. Jenner noticed that milkmaids didn’t catch the smallpox, a disease rampant across the English countryside. He reasoned that the blisters on the milkmaid’s hand must contain something that was protective. He tested his theory by taking fluid from a blister on the wrist of a milkmaid and inoculating it into the arm of a local laborer’s son (Offit and

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