The Dormant Threat 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

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

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.

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

With the numerous health risks coupled with the need for extremely regulated quarantine, what, exactly, forced Rhode Island’s hand into legalizing the smallpox inoculation procedure? Rhode Island’s general assembly wrote that “There is great danger that the inhabitants of the United Colonies may, by the prevalence of that distemper, be rendered incapable of defense at a time when their safety may depend upon their most vigorous exertions.” The smallpox disease, combined with the risk of an epidemic posed such a threat to the American rebel forces that colony’s official legislative bodies deemed it necessary to intervene. And this was at a time when the founding fathers of the United States believed that any form of government should play virtually

Smallpox is extremely dangerous because there is no known cure. Smallpox can spread through the air and physical contact with the pox marks or anything that the pox marks touch. The Variola Virus spread so quickly that it caused over 50 million infections per year. Symptoms of Smallpox include vomiting, chills, fever, rashes, malaise, blisters,

This article was unique to read because it was actually selected excerpts from the Cumberland House journals of 1781 and 1782. Each excerpt described what kind of person was being affected such as age and gender and then described where the smallpox rash was first noticed. Smallpox was first brought to Mexico by the Spaniards in 1520, later reached Massachusetts and extended west a century later. On each occasion, it occurred in an epidemic form with an extremely high mortality rate. This article describes the first recorded smallpox epidemic on the western plains. The excerpts were handwritten diaries of daily events. The chroniclers were William Tomison and Matthew Cocking. Tomison’s account of the smallpox epidemic just 20 years before Jenner

Dr. Edward Jenner was the first person to make a vaccine for small pox. He made it from a cow pox vaccine. ( ) Being the first person to make a

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,

There are side effects and risks associated with the smallpox vaccine. In the past, about 1 out of 1,000 people vaccinated for the first time experienced serious, but non-life-threatening, reactions, including toxic or allergic reaction at the site of the vaccination, spread of the vaccinia virus to other parts of the body, and to other individuals. Potentially life-threatening reactions occurred in 14 to 500 people out of every 1 million people vaccinated for the first time.

The break down and analyses of the action plan used to eradicate smallpox has been put into action to work toward eradicating poliomyelitis.

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

Before vaccines were introduced, varicella was endemic in the United States, and virtually all persons acquired varicella at some point before adulthood (cdc.gov, 2006). It is reported that 4 million cases of chickenpox were recorded in the U.S. each year before the vaccine was introduced. Although some states reported cases of varicella to the CDC, it was eliminated from the list of nationally notifiable conditions in 1981. Children under 10 years of age make up between 75 – 90 % of chickenpox cases. In 1995, due to the availability of the vaccine in the U.S., hospitalizations due to chickenpox has declined by nearly 90% (Hambleton, & Gershon, 2005).

All throughout history, the exchanging of goods and ideas from place to place has played a huge role in significantly influencing groups of people, regions, and societies. For example, the spread of culture influenced the religion of many regions, growing and selling crops helped different areas come into contact, slave trade affected innocent African Americans, the idea of humanism developed and eventually spread to areas all over, and probably the worst exchange was disease which wiped out massive amounts of people in a very short amount of time. A lot of these ideas and goods were intentionally exchanged between different regions such as humanism but some things were exchanged unintentionally like disease. Two factors that heavily influenced different groups of people and regions are smallpox and humanism. Smallpox was just one of the diseases that was spread but it did the most damage. It spread from Europe to the Caribbean and North and South America. This influenced the African American slaves since so many people in the New World died from disease they were then brought over to America to do their work. The idea of humanism is all about focusing on the rebirth of individualism and your own self worth. This idea began in Italy but eventually spread into Spain, France, Germany, England, and eastern Europe. Once people were exposed to this way of thinking more and more people wanted to learn about the movement and share their ideas with others which led to the forming