COWPOX TO SMALLPOX TO H5N1 BIRD FLU

SMALL POX

Small pox is believed to have emerged in human populations in about 10,000 BC. The disease killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans each year during the 18th century and was responsible for a third of all blindness. Of all those infected, 20-60% and over 80% of the infected children died from the disease. During the 20th century, it is estimated that smallpox was responsible for 300-5-00million deaths. In the early 1950s an estimated 50 million cases of smallpox occurred each year .as recently as 1967, 2 million people died of smallpox. A disease of such a horrific stature finally became extinct from the face of the world in 1977. This became possible through the stringent vaccination program conducted throughout the world. Edward Jenner the great scientist who discovered the small pox vaccine is accredited for this huge achievement.

EDWARD JENNER

Though vaccines are a newer concept but the method of inducing immunity was known since ages. There are historical evidences that suggest the use of methods called inoculation, insufflations or variolation to treat smallpox in India, China, Turkey, Persia, some parts of Africa, Europe and America.

INNOCULATION PROCESS

There existed an informal public understanding of some connection between resistance to smallpox and working with cow in the period during which Edward Jenner lived. Edward Jenner at the age of 13 during his apprenticeship under Dr.Ludlow had already noticed this fact. His belief further strengthened when he noticed cases of cure from cowpox during a smallpox epidemic in Berkley a place close to his home town. On the grounds of these experiences Edward Jenner started his research to decipher the connection between cowpox and smallpox.

COW POX

He inoculated James Phipps, the eight year old son of his gardener with cowpox. After an extremely weak bout of cowpox, the boy recovered. He then inoculated the boy with smallpox but nothing happened, the boy had attained immunity against the smallpox virus. This incident marked the beginning of a new era in which smallpox became curable. James Phipps was the first person to be cured using the newly discovered vaccine in 1796.

EDWARD JENNER INNOCULATING JAMES PHIPP

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