1750-1900 the fight against smallpox: Jenner and vaccination

If you catch a disease, your body creates special cells called antibodies to fight off the infection
1. and if you survive you may become immune to any further attacks of that disease
  1. This idea led to a procedure called inoculation
    1. 1. A small amount of pus is taken from a sufferer's smallpox blister
    2. 2. It is spread into a small cut made between the thumb and the forefinger of the person being innoculated
    3. 3. A mild version of smallpox develops; the person survives and is then immune to further attacks
    4. HOWEVER, inoculation did not completely solve the problem of smallpox
      1. Because not everyone could afford to have it done
      2. and inoculation was not always effective or safe
      3. Local people said they did not need to be inoculated
        They claimed that if they had already had cowpox they would not catch smallpox
        Jenner decided to check this idea...
Smallpox parties
1. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (the wife of the British ambassador to Turkey)
  1. She witnessed the inoculation in the early 18th century
  2. She had nearly died from smallpox when she was younger
    1. She was keen to protect her children - she had them inoculated in 1721
2. The idea of inoculations quickly became very popular in Britain
3. People would even have smallpox parties
  1. Where they would all be inoculated together
4. Since doctors were paid for this, they could make a lot of money
Edward Jenner ( a doctor in Gloucestershire )
1. 14 May 1796 - 'took some cowpox matter from a blister on the arm of Sarah Nelmes and inserted it into two cuts made on James' arm'
  1. 'A week later he became chilly, lost his appetite and had a headache - but the next day he was completely well
    1. inoculated him with smallpox but he was immune to it!
      1. To make sure of his findings, he vaccinated 23 others including his 11 month old son
        People were immune- he published his ideas giving the name 'Vaccination' to his new technique of inoculation with cowpox
        Vacca is the Latin for cow
        HOWEVER , the Royal Society refused to publish his account
        He had to pay for his report to be printed himself.
  2. He called this vaccination
    1. In 1802 the British Government awarded Jenner £10,000 for his work against smallpox - 5 years later they gave him an additional £20,000
2. Jenner's Work
  1. The link only existed between smallpox and cowpox. It did not work for any other diseases
  2. Jenner worked in a scientific way and did a number of tests
  3. Jenner had pamphlets (like leaflets) printed for other scientists to read: the pamphlets described his experiments very clearly so that other scientists could check his work
    1. Jenner did not mind other people using his ideas - he wanted lots of people to benefit from his work
  4. Vaccination showed that it was possible to prevent some people catching a disease
  5. Jenner could not explain how the link between cowpox and smallpox worked
  6. Vaccination was not always successful - and some people did develop smallpox because some doctors did not carry out the vaccination carefully enough
  7. In 1802 the Jennarian Society was set up in London to promote vaccination and within 2 years over 12,000 people had been vaccinated
  8. The government provided a grant to pay for people to have free vaccinations,
    1. As a result of this, doctors lost money because people no longer paid for inoculations
      1. Therefore many doctors opposed Jenner's work
  9. Napolean in France and president Jefferson in the USA both thought vaccination was a great breakthrough
  10. In 1852 the government made it COMPULSORY to be vaccinated
  11. When the British government enforced compulsory vaccination in 1872
    1. The number of smallpox cases dropped dramatically, and in 1979 the World Health Organization announced that smallpox had been wiped out completely

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1750-1900 the fight against smallpox: Jenner and vaccination

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	Created by Greta Westwood over 11 years ago