Small Pox is a contagious and possibly fatal virus that has been thought to be around since 10,000 B.C. Smallpox has killed 1 in 3 people infected. Nearly one of ten of the population had been wiped out because of smallpox. The virus was caused by the Variola virus and can only be transmitted by people. Small pox is characterized as a skin rash with vesicles containing fluid that then enlarge to contain pus. Small pox infects a person through the mouth and nose, and then it grows in the mucous membranes. “The last case of Small Pox in the United States was in 1949” (Smallpox Disease Overview). The last case of smallpox in the world was in 1977 in Somalia. An infected person can infect up to 2 to 5 other people but in order for the people to be infected they have to already have the rash and fever.
Small pox was thought to have originated in India or Egypt, the oldest piece of evidence is in 1157 B.C. the victim being pharaoh Ramses V from Egypt. Small Pox has no treatment but can be prevented with a vaccination; the vaccine was created from a virus called vaccinia that helps the body become immune. The vaccine for small pox is the first vaccine ever created. Most people in America under the age of 40 have not had the vaccination for small pox. (Smallpox Fast Facts). “The vaccine is given using a needle that is dipped into the vaccine substance” (Smallpox Disease Overview), but you do not need to have the smallpox vaccination. If a person is given the
…show more content…
It was the English scientist called Edward Jenner who found the method of vaccination. “Scientist Edward Jenner observed that milkmaids often got a disease called cowpox and that seemed to make them immune to smallpox.” (Smallpox Symptoms). Jenner’s vaccination strategy was to transfer the virus by taking the blistering fluid from a person with cowpox and give it to someone no had not yet had
In the book Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82 by Elizabeth A. Fenn, the author provides a fresh outlook on the face of North America during the time of the American Revolution. Fenn provides the reader with a perspective of the American Revolution from the vantage point of the variola virus and its effect on the population of North America. Her thesis for the book is, “While colonial independence reshaped global politics forever, the contagion was the defining and determining event of the era for many residents of North America. With the exception of the war itself, epidemic smallpox was the greatest upheaval to afflict the continent in these years.” Fenn does not discount the war, but rather, provides more information about the era of the American Revolution and the role of smallpox within that time period. Considering the author’s argument, Fenn clarifies the diverse impact that smallpox had on North Americans depending on their race and social status during the American Revolution.
Herpes Simplex is a common virus that causes infection in humans. This virus is spread in both humans and animals. However, humans are the primary reservoirs for HSV and are the only ones that experience any symptoms. There are two types of Herpes Simplex known as HSV-1 and HSV-2. HSV-1 primarily causes oral herpes while HSV-2 causes genital herpes.1 This virus is easily contracted and often during one’s childhood. Unfortunately, this virus is latent and reoccurs every so often, more so during times of stress. Herpes Simplex is a mild infection for most, however, this virus can lead to many serious complications.
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.
The book, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson; has multiple major themes. The theme that I believe is the most prominent throughout the book is Slavery. This theme plays a key role in how all of the characters’ act and react to the different situations that they are put in.
The original New England Natives first felt the effects of Smallpox and other diseases during the first decade of the sixteenth century. This was shortly after John Cabot explored the coast in 1498. By 1504, constant fishing trips were being made by the French and Portuguese, which started the spread of disease. However, It wasn’t until the outbreak of 1616 and 1617, when huge numbers of natives were killed. Diseases like chicken Pox, cholera, the plague, tuberculosis, and many others were introduced to New England for the first time. For the most part, Europeans had become immune to these diseases over the years. The natives, on the other hand, were completely vulnerable.¹
In order to understand the history of smallpox one first has to understand how diseases like it evolve. Much like other species, diseases that survive in the long run are the microbes that most effectively reproduce and are able to find suitable places to live. For a microbe to effectively reproduce, it must "be defined mathematically as the number of new infected per each original patient." This number will largely depend on how long each victim is able to spread the virus to other victims (Diamond, 198).
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.
Although the Columbian Exchange allowed for the beneficial exchange of cultures, ideas, foods, and animals around the world during the 1450-1750 time period, it also had a dark side. One detrimental result of the Columbian Exchange would be the spreading of smallpox from Europe to the New World.
The first recorded smallpox outbreak occurred in 1350 BC during the Egyptian-Hittite war. The illness was passed from Egyptian prisoners to the Hittite population affecting both soldiers and civilians. Although it wasn’t until the late 1600’s that people in Europe and Asia accidentally discovered that those infected with smallpox through a scratch on the skin, suffered from a less severe form of the disease than those who contracted it through the respiratory tract. In the early 1700’s doctors began to store samples of smallpox pus and scabs in jars. If an outbreak occurred the doctor would make a small cut in a person’s arm and smeared the pus into the wound. This process of intentionally infecting a person with the smallpox virus in order to make them immune to the disease in the future was called inoculation.
Edward Jenner invented a method to protect against smallpox in the late 1700s. The method involved taking substances from an open wound of someone with small-pox or cow-pox and injecting it into another person’s skin, also called “arm-to-arm inoculation”. The earliest actual documented examples of vaccination date all the way back to the tenth century in China (Lombard, “A brief history of vaccines and vaccinations”). The mention of early vaccination was taken note of by a French scholar, Henri Husson, written in one of his journals (Dictionaire des sciences médicale). The Ottoman Empire Turks also discovered a method of immunization a few centuries later. Lady Montagu of Great Britain, a famous writer and wife of the English ambassador of Istanbul, between 1716 -1718, came across the Turkish vaccine for small-pox. After surviving as a child with small-pox, she insisted her son be vaccinated (Henricy, “Letters of the Right Honourable Lady Wortley Montagu”). When she returned to England, she continued to publicize the Turkish tradition of immunization and spread their methods to the rest of her country. She also had all family members also vaccinated. Immunization was soon adopted in England, nearly 50 years before Jenner's smallpox vaccine in 1796 (Sharp, “Anti-vaccinationists past and present”). Edward Jenner’s target for smallpox was to eradicate it. And later by the 1940s, knowledge of the science behind vaccines had developed and soon reached the point where across-the-board vaccine production was a goal that was possible and where serious disease control efforts could start. Vaccines for many dangerous diseases, including ones protecting against pertussis, diphtheria, and tetanus were underway into production. ...
During one of his earlier apprenticeships, Jenner noticed milkmaids with a disease called cowpox. Cowpox is a close relative to smallpox and is only mild in humans. Pustules appear on the hands and a basic cold is also brought on. At Jenner’s young age he was able to link these two viruses together and come up with a theory for immunization. In 1796, while still attending medical school, Jenner decided to test this theory between smallpox and cowpox. He used a dairymaid, who was a patient of his named Sarah Nelms, who had contracted cowpox and had ripe pustules on her hands. Jenner realized this was his opportunity to test someone who had not contracted smallpox yet. He picked an eight-year old boy named James Phipps to use as his test subject. He scraped open a spot of James' arm and rubbed in a dissected piece of Sarah Nelms pustule into the open wound. A couple days later James became ill with cowpox but was well again within a week. This test proved that cowpox could be spread between humans as well as cows. Jenner's next test would be if the cowpox virus gave James immunity against smallpox. On July 1st of 1796, Edward Jenner obtained an infected smallpox pustule and scratched the virus filled pus into James' arm. This technique of placing a virus into a patient is called variolation. James Phipps did not develop smallpox within the
The remaining virus samples should be maintained and used to discover a more sound vaccination for this disease. This would aid in future prevention of small pox outbreaks that could be stimulated by threats of bioterrorism, as well as prevent and cure other viruses such as AIDS. As a result, it is essential that the virus cultures are maintained and kept in order to continue research and prevent possible devastation. Works Cited “History and Epidemiology of Global Smallpox Eradication.” Centers for Disease Control.
Smallpox is caused by the variola virus that emerged in human populations thousands of years ago. Smallpox is a specific, infectious, and highly contagious febrile disease known only to be transmitted by humans. It is caused by a virus from air currents which are eventually passed on from person to person. Smallpox varies from a mild form without skin manifestations to a highly fatal hemorrhagic form. Edward Jenner, an English physician, discovered a means of preventing smallpox through vaccination. Gradually mass vaccination programs were introduced in many parts of the world. Smallpox was the first disease conquered by human beings and was eradicated by vaccination. The last known cases of naturally occurring smallpox were isolated in 1977 in Somalia. Smallpox had been one of the world’s most feared diseases which killed hundreds of millions of people and scarred and blinded millions more.
The history of vaccine started with the spread of smallpox disease. Smallpox was a contagious disease and, it was spreading fast leaving permanent scars on patients' faces or worse taking their lives. At the time, there were several attempt to treat and prevent smallpox, but Edward Jenner had the greatest rule in eliminating smallpox.“Jenner's work represented the first scientific attempt to control an infectious disease by the deliberate use of vaccination”. ( “Conclusion” 1,2). Nowadays, Statistics show significant reduction in the cases of infectious diseases after the widespread of vaccination. There were annually 63,000 cases of Pneumococcal among children in the United States. After the beginning of vaccination, the cases redu...
For innumerable centuries, unrelenting strains of disease have ravaged society. From the polio epidemic in the twentieth century to the measles cases in the latter half of the century, such an adverse component of nature has taken the lives of many. In 1796, Edward Jenner discovered that exposure to cowpox could foster immunity against smallpox; through injecting the cowpox into another person’s arm, he founded the revolutionary concept known as a vaccination. While many attribute the eradication of various diseases to vaccines, many United States citizens are progressively beginning to oppose them. Many deludedly thought that Measles had been completely terminated throughout the United States; however, many children have been patronized by