Smallpox Vaccine images, videos, blogs and news

Smallpox Vaccine in News

The smallpox vaccine was the first successful vaccine to be developed. The process of vaccination was discovered by Edward Jenner in 1796, who acted upon his observation that milkmaids who caught the cowpox virus did not catch smallpox.[1] Prior to widespread vaccination, mortality rates in individuals with smallpox were high—up to 35% in some cases.[2]

Before the introduction of a vaccine, the mortality of the severe form of smallpox—variola major—was very high. Historical records show that a method of inducing immunity was already known. A process called inoculation, also known as insufflation or variolation was practiced in India as early as 1000 BC.[3]. This interpretation is disputed, however: other investigators contend the ancient Sanskrit medical texts of India do not describe these techniques.[4] The first clear reference to smallpox inoculation was made by the Chinese author Wan Quan (1499–1582) in his Douzhen xinfa (痘疹心法) published in 1549.[5] Inoculation for smallpox does not appear to have been widespread in China until the reign era of the Longqing Emperor (r. 1567–1572) during the Ming Dynasty.[6] In China powdered smallpox scabs were blown up the noses of the healthy. The patients would then develop a mild case of the disease and from then on were immune to it. The technique did have a 0.5-2% mortality rate, but that was considerably less than the 20-30% mortality rate of the disease itself.

Variolation was also practiced throughout the latter half of the 17th century by physicians in Turkey, Persia, and Africa. In 1714 and 1716 two reports of the Turkish method of inoculation were made to the Royal Society in England, by Emmanuel Timoni, a doctor affiliated with the British Embassy in Istanbul,[7] and Giacomo Pylarini. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, wife of the British ambassador, is widely credited with introducing the process to Great Britain in 1721. The procedure had been performed on her son and daughter, aged 5 and 4 respectively. They both recovered quickly. In 1721, an epidemic of smallpox hit London and left the British Royal Family in fear.[7] Reading of Lady Wortley Montagu’s efforts, they wanted to use inoculation on themselves. Doctors told them that it was a dangerous procedure, so they decided to try it on other people first. The test subjects they used were condemned prisoners. The doctors inoculated the prisoners and all of them recovered in a couple of weeks. So assured, the British royal family inoculated themselves and reassured the English people that it was safe.

Stimulated by a severe epidemic, variolation was first employed in North America in 1721. The practice had been known in Boston since 1706, when Cotton Mather (of Salem witch trial fame) discovered that his slave, Onesimus had been inoculated while still in Africa and that many slaves imported to Boston had also received inoculations.[9] The practice was, at first, widely criticized.[10] However a limited trial showed that 6 deaths occurred out of 244 who were vaccinated (2.5%) while 844 out of 5980 died of natural disease, and the process was widely adopted throughout the colonies.[11] By 1777 George Washington, who initially hesitated to have his Revolutionary War troops inoculated during a smallpox outbreak writing, “should We inoculate generally, the Enemy, knowing it, will certainly take Advantage of our Situation;”, eventually ordered mandatory inoculation of all troops and recruits who had not had the disease.[12]

This technique was documented as having a mortality rate of only one in a thousand. Two years after Kennedy's description appeared, March 1718, Dr. Charles Maitland successfully inoculated the five-year-old son of the British ambassador to the Turkish court under orders from the ambassador's wife Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who four years later introduced the practice to England.[13]

An account from letter by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu to Sarah Chiswell, dated 1 April 1717, from the Turkish Embassy describes this treatment:

Smallpox Vaccine in Blogs