On May 14, 1796, Dr. Edward Jenner was ready for his first experiment.
The Berkeley, UK doctor was an expert in variolation, a common practice at the time.
The mild case of smallpox that resulted was the norm, but the benefit of long-term protection from this dreaded scourge outweighed the potential costs. The idea that a “small” or less virulent infection could provide full immunity to the disease was a stunning conclusion.
This particular malady was a well-known but greatly feared invader. A smallpox infection would be quickly evident in any unfortunate victim.
Smallpox spread by exposure to the Variola virus and infection typically began like a common cold. The victim would experience fever, lethargy, muscle pain, and headaches.
After a few days, a rash would appear on the face and skin, with sores forming inside the mouth, throat, and nose. Fluid-filled pustules would develop and expand, covering large areas of skin. By the third week, if the victim survived, scabs formed and separated from the skin.[4]
Photo Source: Early 1900s, two children exposed to smallpox, only one vaccinated. FACT CHECK: Does This Photograph Show Two Boys — One Vaccinated, One Not — Who Were Exposed to Smallpox?
Until variolation became more common, smallpox was among the deadliest of infectious diseases. Ten percent of all deaths could be attributed to smallpox outbreaks.
Sadly, the smallest were the most vulnerable. Mortality rates were extremely high.
It was especially virulent in infants and children, and when it swept through a village, from 20 to 50% of those infected died as a consequence. Moreover, those who survived were often disfigured from pockmarks, and smallpox led to blindness when it spread to the eyes.
Though variolation could be a successful treatment for smallpox, it did have serious risks. Patients undergoing this procedure sometimes contracted other diseases such as syphillis[8]
As an experienced variolation practitioner, Dr. Edward Jenner was well aware of these hazards.[10] He sought a better, more stable smallpox treatment.
While treating his patients in the English countryside, he noticed something very interesting: milkmaids appeared to be immune to smallpox.[11]
As he wrote in 1801:
I was first excited by observing, that among those whom in the country I was frequently called upon to inoculate, many resisted every effort to give them the Small Pox.
These patients I found had undergone a disease they called the Cow Pox, contracted by milking cows affected with a peculiar eruption on their teats. On inquiry, it appeared that this had been known among the dairies immemorial, and a vague opinion prevailed that the Cow Pox was preventative of the Small Pox…….[12]
Cowpox, a less virulent disease, appeared to offer immunity to smallpox after infection. Jenner surmised that the pus from cowpox blisters were key to the protection.[13]
Jenner tested his hypothesis in May 1796. In what has become a world-famous experiment, he scraped pus from the cowpox blisters of an infected patient to create a smallpox vaccine.[14]
Image Source: Cowpox sores on the hand of Sarah Nelmes, the infected patient Edward Jenner and the Small Pox Vaccine
James Phipps, the nine-year-old son of Jenner’s gardener, was the first recipient of the vaccine.[15]
Even after repeated exposure to the virus, the boy was now immune. Jenner’s inoculation was a success.
Despite this, the idea of infecting someone with cowpox to combat a deadlier disease was not without critics. Some religious leaders opposed the practice, saying “it was immoral to stop a disease that God has created.”[16]
Image Source: 1802 cartoon showing vaccinated patients sprouting cow heads File:The cow pock.jpg - Wikipedia
Jenner published his paper, An Inquiry into The Causes and Effects of Variolae Vaccinae, a Disease Discovered in some of the Western Counties of England, Particularly Gloucestershire, and Known by the Name of Cow Pox, on June 1, 1798.[17]
His paper’s conclusions quickly spread across Europe and then the rest of the world. Millions of lives were saved.
Jenner was not the first to discover this smallpox vaccine. At least 30 years before, English and German doctors had already studied this phenomenon. Farmer Benjamin Jesty, using his own observation and intuition, even inoculated his own family with a smallpox vaccine in 1774, 22 years before Jenner’s experiment.[18]
But Jenner’s work brought more attention to the technique, and was a key driver in the eventual eradication of this devastating virus. His indefatigable efforts “represented the first scientific attempt to control an infectious disease by the deliberate use of vaccination.” [19]
It is Jenner who is called “the father of immunology” and is often credited with saving more lives through his work than any other human in history.[20]
Image Source: Alamy High hooves for Blossom
Footnotes
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