Edward Jenner: Father of the Inoculation
Many have heard of the disease “smallpox”, yet few have experienced it first-hand. Occurring in 1947, New York contained one of the last smallpox outbreaks in the United States (Baker-Blocker np). Subsequently, the World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated, in 1980 (Baker-Blocker np). Thanks to the invention pioneered by the English physician and scientist, Edward Anthony Jenner. On behalf of his early life and contributions, Edward Jenner was important to the scientific and medical community.
Edward Jenner’s early life was full of hardship, as well as, opportunity. Born on May 17, 1749 in Gloucestershire, England, Jenner was raised by his elder brother (Ridgway 36). When Jenner was eight,
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Growing up in a small town, Jenner could recall a tale propagated by the local farmers, stating that immunity to smallpox occurred if a person contracted cowpox (“Edward Jenner” np). In May 1796, Jenner met a milkmaid who developed said disease. He acquired pus from her blisters in order to study its effects (Ridgway 36). The pus was introduced via incision on the arm of an eight-year-old boy (Ridgway 36). Successfully, the small boy showed no signs of smallpox after the inoculation (Ridgway 36). Despite Jenner’s success, other physicians obtained differing results from vaccinating their patients; Jenner’s reputation was damaged (Robert np). Determined to find a cure, Jenner devoted all his spare time to his investigation. After several years, Jenner noticed that, from case-to-case, the cowpox pustules varied (Robert np). “He realized that only one special variety of the disease provided immunity from smallpox (Robert np).” By the early 1800’s, doctors realized that, whenever they followed his techniques correctly, Jenner had actually found the way to prevent smallpox.(Robert np). Edward Jenner had successfully vaccinated 100,000 people by 1801 (Ridgway 40). Jenner wrote and published his report on his own in 1798 (Ridgway 37). Jenner’s contributions went beyond just the vaccination for smallpox, he laid the groundwork for immunology (“Edward Jenner” np) Centuries after his
If it was suspected that a person was either infected with smallpox, or had come in contact with someone infected with smallpox, they could be taken from their home and sent to the Quarantine Station with as little as five minutes notice. This, combined with the shortages of the Quarantine stations facilities resulted in so many complaints that a Royal Commission was ordered resulting in the dismissal of the Superintendent of the Quarantine Station and the establishment of a ‘Board of Health’ to operate the Quarantine
In “The Letterbook of Eliza Lucas Pinckney 1739-1762,” she described how the settlers that were constantly insulted by the Indians and small pox rages as “ a great cloud over this province.” The impact of smallpox was awful. The small pox causes all business to stop on Charles Town making the economy go downhill. “....a violent kind of small pox rages in Charles Town that must puts a stop to all business.” (Doc E)
Boston Smallpox Epidemic of 1721: When smallpox broke out in Boston, Cotton Mather introduced an untested medical procedure called “inoculation”, which would introduce a small amount of the virus to a patient, in hoping they would become immune to it. Many were opposed to it, even though it worked. Many people died due to the epidemic. 31. Common Sense: Thomas Paine wrote a book called "Common Sense", it sold more than 150,000 copies when the population was only 3 million.
As the revolution moves to the south, so did the havoc of smallpox especially amongst the Native Americans and African American slaves who never had any immunity from the
Edward Jenner, an english doctor found a less risky form of variation. He learned that cowpox, a milder form of smallpox, they wouldn’t develop smallpox.
During the American Revolution, the disease smallpox virus was spreading enormously over thirteen colonies, created a severe threat in Boston where Boylston was urged to begin inoculations of the virus by the New England Puritan minister Cotton
Throughout the 19th and 20th century, there have been medical inventions and discoveries that have prevented countless medical conditions and diseases, resulting in healthier lives for American citizens. Although there were many inventions and discoveries made throughout this period, the 1950s had the largest impact on the lives of American citizens. Throughout the decade, many impactful discoveries were made that have both saved and drastically lengthened the lives of many people. Because of this, the 1950s were one of the most important decades for the discovery of medical diseases and conditions. The key medical advancements made during the 1950s include the creation of the polio vaccine that has saved countless lives since its creation,
On paragraph 3 of Document C, “The Great Disease Migration’, is shows how “By the time Columbus set sail, the people of the Old World held the distinction of being thoroughly diseased. By domesticating pigs, horses, sheep and cattle, they had infected themselves with a wide array of pathogens. And through centuries of war, exploration and city-building, they had kept those agents in constant circulation. Virtually any European who crossed the Atlantic during the 16th century had battled such illnesses as smallpox and measles during childhood and emerged fully immune.” Columbus and his men, along with the Old World, had been in contact with many diseases and became immune.
Some Vaccines were ineffective, Bollet wrote “in civilian life, children were first vaccinated with material taken directly from a lesion on the udder of a cow or a calf infected with cowpox, which was caused by a virus similar enough to smallpox to confer immunity” though this proved effective army soldiers would vaccinate each other but because they did not sterilize and used antiseptic methods this method would often be fatal due to blood poisoning. However, the knowledge the physicians gain from this experience helps to shape how patients are vaccinated
Have you ever questioned why public schools are making kids get vaccinations? Vaccines are enforced in public schools in order to prevent virus spreading and potential danger. March 4, 1918, it started with an American soldier who reported sick with a flu and hours later hundreds were infected. Known as the “Spanish Flu” or “the epidemic of 1918” it is ranked as one of the most deadliest epidemics and had death tolls higher than that of World War 1. The impact of the epidemic on the 20th Century is that it provided insight on treatment of the flu, created the influenza vaccine, and a controversial topic for further research.
Today I am going to give a tribute speech to James Phipps. James was born, in 18th-century England, to a poor laborer who worked as Edward Jenner’s gardener. Edward Jenner was a doctor and a scientist who noticed that the milkmaids working on his farm who caught Cowpox seemed to be immune when later exposed to Smallpox. Working on his new theory the Doctor took a surgical knife, James, and a milkmaid named Sarah Nelms, and made two small cuts on the boy 's arm. He then used the knife to open one of the Cowpox blisters on Sarah’s hand and smeared the pus from it onto James’ cut arm.
Due to the smallpox epidemic threat, the inoculation procedure got popular in other places and for other similar diseases. The benefits of inoculation outweighed the risks for children. Boylston figured out inoculation could produce certain type of immunity for the virus which can terminate the infection and save lives. Also, he ensured from his experiments that the inoculation process had less fatal structure of the disease in the human body. The author illustrated that several obstacles were overtaken to prevent the outbreak from spreading, a contamination which infected numerous people in 1721, and there were many controversies about the inoculation process and experimentation to inoculate the disease into a healthy person.
When he cured smallpox in humans he decided to start working on humans. He had an experiment with an eight-year-old boy named James. Edward cut James’s arm and put cowpox puss inside the wound. James received normal reactions but after several days he was in excellent health. After Jenner made sure that James was okay
Cowpox was a viral disease that affected the cows’ udders, it resembled the mild version of smallpox. Jenner took samples of fluid from the inside of a dairy maid 's hand lesion and injected it non consensually into James Phipps, who was eight years old. A few days later, James developed a fever, lost his appetite, and felt discomfort in his armpit. The symptoms did not stay long and he quickly recovered. Two months later, Jenner injected James with the smallpox virus.
Once the child recovered from the cowpox disease, Jenner then tried to infect the child with smallpox, but the young man proved to be immune. “It seemed that this attempt at vaccination had worked. But Jenner had to work on for two more years before his discovery was considered sufficiently tested by the medical profession to permit widespread introduction.” (Alexander, 2003). Beginning in 1831 and ending in 1835, due to increasing vaccination, smallpox deaths were down to one in a thousand.