The Vaccination and Eradication of Smallpox
Smallpox, a disease caused by the variola virus, has devastated humanity for many centuries. Because of its high mortality rate, civilizations around the world sought to protect themselves from this disease. Throughout the 1700's, these protective methods became more sophisticated, and led up to Edward Jenner’s vaccination method in 1796. Indeed, the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control and the Agency for International Development began a joint program to eradicate smallpox in 1967. It utilized methods of mass vaccination, surveillance, and containment. The endeavor was successful, and in 1980, WHO officially declared the eradication of smallpox.
Since 1000 B.C., the world had been plagued by the variola virus, the causative agent of smallpox. The disease has a 30% mortality rate (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2004). Consequently, it was a great victory for humankind when the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the eradication of smallpox from the world. The smallpox vaccine was the first vaccine ever developed, and the eradication was the first successful eradication of a disease. Therefore, it is very important for society to study the processes that led to the vaccination and eradication of smallpox.
Inoculation, a process that offered protection from smallpox, can be dated back to 1000 B.C. In China, the smallpox scabs were powdered and blown into noses, and in India, pus was rubbed into skin lesions to immunize the healthy individuals against future infections. Throughout Asia and Great Britain, inoculation was also frequently practiced (History and Eradication of Smallpox, n.d., p.2).
Inoculation methods improved over time. Originally, ...
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...enner's smallpox vaccine. Great Britain: Heinemann Educational Books.
Centers for Disease and Control. (2004, December 30). Smallpox Overview. In Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved July 20, 2006, from http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/overview/disease-facts.asp
History and Eradication of Smallpox. (n.d.). Retrieved July 20, 2006, from http://www.portfolio.mvm.ed.ac.uk/studentwebs/session4/32/history.htm
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This summer we had an opportunity to dive into the world of bioweapons, through Richard Preston’s novel The Demon in the Freezer. His book explored the colorful world of smallpox and its use as a biological weapon. Earlier this week we were graced with this authors present for an ACES event. He discussed some of the found topics in his book such as animal testing, what small pox is, and even its eradication. One of the great things we had the chance of vocalizing were our many opinions on the gloom associated with this intriguing disease.
18) Powell, Alvin. "The Beginning of the End of Smallpox."news.harvard.edu. N.p.. Web. 13 Mar 2014. .
The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston is an intriguing book that discusses the anthrax terrorist attacks after 9/11 and how smallpox might become a future bioterrorist threat to the world. The book provides a brief history of the smallpox disease including details of an outbreak in Germany in 1970. The disease was eradicated in 1979 due to the World Health Organization’s aggressive vaccine program. After the virus was no longer a treat the World Health Organization discontinued recommending the smallpox vaccination. In conjunction, inventory of the vaccine was decreased to save money. The virus was locked up in two labs, one in the United States and one in Russia. However, some feel the smallpox virus exists elsewhere. Dr. Peter Jahrling and a team of scientists at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Maryland became concerned terrorists had access to the smallpox virus and planed to alter the strain to become more resistant. These doctors conducted smallpox experiments to discover more effective vaccines in case the virus were released. Preparedness for a major epidemic is discussed as well as the ease with which smallpox can be bioengineered.
A different perspective on a smallpox epidemic during the French and Indian War appears in Andrew J. Blackbird's History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan. Blackbird, Chief Mack-e-te-be-nessy, was a member of a distinguished Ottawa family from the northwest shore of the Michigan lower peninsula. He wrote his History late in life, after a long career in education, politics, and public service.
World Health Organization. (2003). The world health report 2003 shaping the future. Geneva: World Health Organization. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=102453
The perspective the author gives to this book is a unique. Smallpox according to most histories does not play the role of a major character, but a minor part. In my opinion smallpox was a major factor during the Revolutionary War, and Feen focuses on several key areas which allows us to see just how bad this epidemic was and the grip it had not only on the soldiers, but the colonist as well.
United States. Surgeon-General's, Office, J. K. Barnes, J. M. Woodworth, E. McClellan, J. C. Peters, J. S. Billings, President United States, and Service United States. Public Health. The Cholera Epidemic of 1873 in the United States. 43d Cong., 2d Sess. House. Ex. Doc. 95. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1875.
By preserving the virus, Boylston personally inoculated 247 people in 1721 and 1722 to prevent transmission. However, from there only six people died, and Boylston was the first American surgeon to inoculate his patients personally. The author portrays the background data Boylston used to examine the inoculation practice on different age and gender of persons to treat his patients from previous experiments. The inoculation method provided higher level of immunity in preventing smallpox infection. The prevention of smallpox is through inducing antibodies through vaccines which last longer for a person taking it.
Kent, Susan Kingsley. The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013. Print.
The newly industrialized U.S. had also experienced an increase in urbanization that led to a decline in public health and sanitation. Diseases like smallpox and yellow fever quickly began to spread from city to city, taking the lives of innocent citizens. These outbreaks led to an eventual focus on public health and Jenner’s vaccine was distributed to help stop the spread of smallpox. This an example of how far Edward Jenner ideas were spread and the impact he had all over the globe.( Jennifer Stock, Vol 5: Development of a Nation,
“The Influenza Pandemic of 1918.” Billings, Molly. Stanford University Virology. June 1, 1997. retrieved from http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/
In 1798, Edward Jenner discovered that cowpox provided immunity from smallpox and this led the way for the biological approach for the eradication of smallpox via the development and implementation of an effective vaccine. Yet, whilst inoculation was successful in practically eradicating smallpox in the Western world, the disease continued to be endemic in areas of Africa and Asia. As Fenner (1980) argued this was due to the fact that whilst the use of the liquid vaccine was effective in cooler climates, it was ineffective in the poorer and tropical climates where the disease was endemic as the vaccine quickly destabilized. Therefore, as Fenner (1980) states the vaccine could be freeze-dried, and so as part of the campaign to eradicate smallpox, WHO established a rigorous quality check on all vaccines and when the vaccine met the accepted standard in 1970, countries in which smallpox was prevalent were producing their own vaccines for ...
The Influenza of 1918. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1989. Print Use: I will use this as an extra source to supplement The Great Influenza and get more detailed information about Philadelphia, as well as Sans Francisco if I feel it would be useful. Secondary Furman, Bess. A Profile of the United States Public Health Service 1798-1948.
Lady Mary Wortley Montague was an English aristocrat in the early eighteenth century. She was diagnosed with the commonly fatal disease smallpox in 1715, which her younger brother passed away from. Smallpox killed tens of thousands across the world at that time. Montague was left badly scarred from the disease. In her post-recovery years, she traveled to Istanbul with her husband and found a new way to prevent smallpox from spreading. In a letter, Montague explained the technology of inoculation to a friend. Inoculation is the introduction of the agent that causes the disease into the body. (Montague, 1717) The idea sounds silly, but this is done to promote immunity from the disease. When Lady Montague discovered this new approach to treating smallpox, she was fairly impressed. She talks about how the patients drastically get better and how sure she is about this approach. (Reilly, 2013)
The first form of vaccination was first introduced in England, in 1796 by an English physician, Edward Jenner. However, it was only when 1809 when it was first launched in the United States. Studies have proven that Jenner’s findings only appeared to be the first scientific attempt to control an infectious disease by using the vaccination. Benjamin Jetsy was the first to use vaccination to fight against smallpox during the past years as when smallpox was present. Jetsy wanted to protect his family from this disease so he used material from cows that had cowpox and injected it into his wife’s and son’s arms. Because of the well-organized medical profession, the new method of vaccination became known quickly among other physicians. The