Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Vaccination of small pox breakthrough essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Vaccination of small pox breakthrough essay
Small Pox
Small pox, which was once the most feared disease known by mankind started out in the days of Christopher Columbus. The disease set out to change the lives of the people in the worse way. It became known as an epidemic disease that ended up killing hundreds of people. Small pox started out in Hispaniola and because of no cure, it traveled to the island of Puerto Rico, and then Cuba.
It was only a matter of time until it spread to the mainland, somewhere in
America. In the Middle Ages, small pox was a highly contagious disease which often lead to death if not treated. In this term paper you will read and learn about the causes, symptoms and treatments of this horrible disease.
Small pox which was often refereed to as a life threatening disease, is caused by a virus, which was not discovered until the nineteenth century. Most of the victims whom acquired small pox, was a result of face to face contact.
It is passed through the nose where tiny particles are released when the infected person sneezes, also by the mouth where particles are once again ejected when the victim coughs. The disease can be transmitted by dried small pox scabs and through materials the infected person has come in contact with.
The virus is reproduced in the lymphoid tissue and released into the body.
Virus reproduction begins when the virion comes into contact with a suitable host cell. The virus must interact with a receptor on the cell surface. The infectious cycle usually consists of two stages. The first stage makes the proteins necessary for the protein to form. The second stage forms the adult virion to start the attack on the body. Smallpox attack with no warning.
There are several painful symptoms that are brought upon by this disease.
In most of the cases, symptoms in a new victim will occur ten to twelve days later. Patients will develop chills, high fever, and nausousness. The fevers may reach up to 105 degrees farenht. In three or four days later a rash erupts and the fever and discomfort may subside. It begins on the face, then spreading to the chest, arms, back and finally the legs. It consists of hard red lumps which become pimple like, swelling and containing puss. "The pustules gave the disease its name, by which it was first known in the west as Variola" (Giblin
59). This rash itches severely but scratching must be avoided in order to prevent an...
... middle of paper ...
...The vaccination contained the virus that causes cowpox, this disease is similar to small pox but a milder form. This causes the production of antibodies that give protection against both cowpox and small pox.
There is no specific treatment for small pox. Due to the disease being so contagious, patients need to be isolated until they are completely recovered.
The sores must be kept clean and penicillin and sulfa medications are sometimes given to prevent further infections. However, after a person has come across the disease and recovers from it they become permanently immune to the virus.
Jenner later promoted the smallpox vaccination and ultimately wiped the virus clear out. Since then there has only been one case of smallpox but they are not certain that it really was the smallpox virus or just a clone of a chicken pox virus. Vaccinations only work depending on ones immune system if it is weak the vaccine will not take.
The number of small pox infected countries gradually decreased. " In
April 1978, WHO ( world health organization) officials announced the world's last known case of naturally occurring small pox had been found in Somalia in
October 1977" ( Fetzer 513).
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.
In closing, the variola virus affected a great amount in that era including, military strategy, trade, and native populations. Elizabeth A. Fenn’s book Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82 sheds light on a significant aspect of that era that had not been given proper credence beforehand. She also illuminated the effect of smallpox when it came to race and social status. With regard to race, smallpox decimated much of the non European populations partly because of their lack of an innate immunity to that virus and Europeans lack of regard for those of a different race. Fenn’s argument on social status showed how the poorer strata’s of society suffered more severely from the variola virus because of their lack of finances to get inoculated; thus, the poor often suffered a worse strain of the virus which often lead to death.
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).
touched the object. Some symptoms of the plague was swelling of the armpits and groin. As described
It began with infection mainly in the blood vessels of the human skin and mouth, resulting in different kinds of symptoms that turn into serious stages. It was spread by physical contact with human skin and mostly affected children and adults. This disease was so outrageous that it led to a vast number of deaths in New England colonies. Also, smallpox virus is transmitted through airborne infection from the oral, nasal mucus of the infected person. But mostly was spread from close contact or contaminated material of the infected person.
The great explorations and subsequent migrations of Europeans to the Americas in the 15th-18th centuries opened up those entire continents to the fatal impact of the infectious diseases of Europe. European conquests owed a good deal of their success to the effects of disease on the indigenous peoples, especially smallpox in the Americas. Before Spanish conquest of the New World, there was no sickness or great health related issues that Natives were forced to face. That all changed, however, when European explorers, Spanish conquistadors in particular, unknowingly brought the deadly disease of smallpox into Latin America. A recollection of days before the Spanish by an Indian of the Yucatan from the book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel shows just how disease free natives were before the Spanish arrival: “There was then no sickness; they had no aching bones; they had then no high fever; they had then no smallpox; they had then no burning chest; they had then no abdominal pain; they had then no consumption; they had then no headache. At that time the course of humanity was orderly. The foreigners made it otherwise when they arrived here.” Then, after the Spanish came to the New World and spread smallpox to the natives, over 95% of them were killed. The Taino population of Hispaniola that was once estimated to be as large as 8 million went virtually extinct. Central Mexico’s population went from 15 million in 1519 to 1.5 million a century later. ...
diseases in the world, and it was declared eradicated in 1980 (Smallpox). This and all the other
In the 1300s the plague spread so quickly in cities for many reasons. There were
Edward Jenner is often regarded as the “Father of Immunology” for his development of the smallpox vaccine. His remarkable discovery has laid the foundation for future scientists working with immunizations. Jenner’s impact is seen worldwide to this day with the complete eradication of the deadly smallpox virus. Edward Jenner’s Legacy will always live on as the first to vaccinate using a live virus. Vaccines are improving everyday, which benefits the public’s health, all thanks to Edward Jenner.
For approximately three-thousand years, smallpox has ravaged and plagued the four corners of the globe. In fact, in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was claimed to be the most infectious disease in the West, with an astounding 90% mortality rate in America. It wasn't until 1796, with English surgeon Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination, that the world saw relief from this devastating virus. However, even with this inoculation in use, the world continued to witness death from both the virus and the vaccine. In the year 1966, it was estimated that 10-15 million infected citizens worldwide had passed away from smallpox that year alone ( “History” 12).
The Black Death consisted mainly of one disease, the bubonic plague, but pneumonic plague was also present during the epidemic. The pneumonic plague was even more fatal, but it was not as predominant as the bubonic plague. Symptoms of the bubonic plague included high fever, aching limbs, and blood vomiting. Most characteristic of the disease were swollen lymph nodes, which grew until they finally burst. Death was almost guaranteed to follow soon after.
It was a bubonic plague that came from Asia and spread by black rats infested with fleas. The plague spread like a wildfire because people who lived in high populated areas were living very close to each other and had no idea what was the cause of the disease or how to cure it. The signs of the “inevitable death” where blood from the nose, fever, aching and swellings big as an “apple” in the groin or under the armpits. From there the disease spread through the body in different directions and soon after it changed into black spots that appeared on the arms and thighs. Due to the lack of medical knowledge, no doctors manage to find a remedy. Furthermore a large number of people without any kind of medical experience tried to help the sick but most of them failed “...there was now a multitude both of men and of women who practiced without having received the slightest tincture of medical science - and, being in ignorance of its source, failed to apply the proper remedies…” (Boccaccio). The plague was so deadly that it was enough for a person to get infected by only touching the close of the
The symptoms were blisters of the skins with puss and bleeding with high fever. The government was very aware and thought they had a vaccine but the micro-organism morphed into another pathogen that was airborn and the previous vaccine was no
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