We are bordering the turn of the 18th century. It is 1796, and smallpox continues its rampage. Even if smallpox did not kill you, the lesions all over your body could leave disfiguring scars. What to do? People tried to transfer the survivors’ immunity by rubbing pus from infected individuals. The technique was called variolation, but sometimes the healthy recipients developed smallpox in its severe form, and they could still infect other people that were not immune [1].
Thankfully, during the 1770s, farmer Benjamin Jesty and doctor Edward Jenner managed to make great discoveries in the fight against smallpox. The key to this problem was cowpox. Milkmaids working with cattle suffered a milder disease (cowpox). After recovering from the disease, milkmaids were resistant to smallpox. Cowpox was closely related to smallpox, so that exposure to cowpox caused a similar but less severe disease. Therefore, they realized that infection with cowpox granted protection against the deadlier cousin: the smallpox. Thus, by exposing people to pus from lesions caused by cowpox, they now became resistant to smallpox.
To test his idea, Dr. Jenner tried it on James Phipps, an eight-year-old child [1]. James became infected with cowpox and recovered. Afterwards, when he was exposed to smallpox, he no longer developed the disease. James was protected against smallpox. Nowadays, this trial with James would not be allowed due to ethical considerations. Fortunately, vaccines are now screened carefully in several stages, and they are first tested in adults with proper consent.
Dr. Jenner was the one who made vaccination popular and also gave vaccines their name. Actually, the name “vaccine” comes from the Latin vacca, which means cow! [2] Although this protocol had many difficulties, it paved the way for new developments to obtain safer and more effective vaccines.
And thus, cows gave their Latin name (“vacca”) to the life-saving technique: vaccines!
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Written by: Nicole
Edited by: María, Adrian, and Natasha
BioDecoded is a volunteer group committed to sharing accurate scientific information. We cannot offer any specific health advice. If you have any doubts about getting vaccinated due to previous health conditions, please speak with your healthcare professional or family physician. Your doctor can revise your medical history and advise you on the best path to follow. If you have any questions about this topic, please comment or send them to our email.
References:
Hollingham, R. (2020). How the first vaccine was born. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200928-how-the-first-vaccine-was-born
Henderson, D.A., & Moss, B. (1999). Smallpox and Vaccinia. S.A. Plotkin & W.A. Orenstein (Eds.). Philadelphia: Saunders. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7294/
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