Discovery of Vaccinations and Where they’ve brought us Today
By: Shelby Carbary

Intro: Vaccinations have proven beneficial to the prevention of many diseases. But have you ever wondered how they were invented? Well, in 1796 a doctor by the name of Edward Jenner discovered how a vaccination works by studying the way cowpox infected patients seemed to be immune to smallpox. Although many people suspect he was not the first person to discover the way a vaccine works, he was one of the first people to actually publish the information.

Investigator: Edward Jenner was born on May 17th ,1749 in Berkeley England. He was the third son and the youngest out of six children. At the age of five both of Jenner’s parents passed away, forcing him to be raised by his older sister. From the age of 14, Jenner trained as an apprentice to surgeon Daniel Ludlow in South Gloucestershire. He trained with Ludlow for eight years. Through Ludlow he gained experience needed to become a surgeon. In 1770, Jenner went up to surgery and anatomy under John Hunter and others at St. Georges Hospital. Jenner and Hunter developed a strong relationship. In 1773, he returned to his native countryside and became a successful general practitioner and surgeon, practicing in purpose- built facilities at Berkeley. Later on Jenner and others formed a medical society in Rodborough, Gloucestershire. During the meetings they would read papers in medical subjects and dine together. This was the Fleece Medical society or Gloucestershire Medical Society, so called because they met in the parlor of
the Fleece Inn.

Discovery: The concept of the vaccine started when he noticed that in local farming communities the milkmaids infected with cowpox were immune to consecutive outbreaks of smallpox that periodically swept through the area. He theorized that the pus in the blisters which the milkmaids received from cowpox protected the milkmaids from smallpox. On the 14th of May 1796 he tested his theory by injecting James Phipps, the son of his gardener, with material from the cowpox blisters from the hand of Sarah Nelmes, a milkmaid who had been infected with the cowpox disease. Jenner injected Phipps with cowpox pus in both arms. When he injected the pus into the arms of Phipps, he produced a fever and some uneasiness but no severe illness. Later, he injected Phipps with variolous material, or smallpox material, which at the time would have been the routine attempt to produce immunity. When he did so no disease appeared. Jenner also reported that when the boy was later challenged again with variolous material he showed no sign of infection again. He tested his theory on a series of 23 subjects. This aspect of his research method increased the legitimacy of his evidence. He continued his research and reported it to the Royal Society. The Royal Society did not publish Jenner’s initial report. After further research and improvement he published a report of about 23 cases. The medical establishment considered his finding for awhile before actually accepting them. Eventually vaccination was accepted and the British government banned variolation in 1840 and provided vaccination using cowpox, free of charge. Click here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwVfcc1S7IU&feature=related
Impact on Humanity:
The discovery of vaccines have impacted the world in various ways. One, with out the discovery of the smallpox vaccine who knows, maybe there would still be numerous cases of smallpox. Also the discovery of how vaccines work contributed a lot. People have formulated many different types of vaccines for various diseases. For example, there is now a vaccine for HPV, chicken pox, the flu and many more, there is definitely more than just the smallpox vaccine. Without the knowledge of how they work maybe those other discoveries wouldn’t have been made. If the small pox vaccine wasn’t produced the concept of vaccines may have come a lot later and caused much more death because no one had a way to stop the epidemic. The world today has suffered no epidemic this could be in part to the discovery of vaccinations. With just one purpose at the beginning, the smallpox vaccine contributed to many variations of the vaccine.

Summery:
A Forgotten Enemy

by SEAN CREEHAN: The Threat of Smallpox
All though the world today has been told that the smallpox virus has been totally eliminated we are now finding out that not only the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Vector have hold on the smallpox virus. Today the US. Intelligence offices have informed citizens that terrorists groups in North Korea and Iraq have supply that could potentially be used for malicious intent. This is also another way smallpox has effect on humanity today. Even though the virus was most violent in the late 1700 and early 1800 hundreds some people still have access to the virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) wants to eliminate all that’s left of the smallpox virus eliminating the risk of reemergence. But if terrorists groups don’t want to give up the vaccine, seeing as there is signs of spreading the vaccine purposely, the WHO has been trying to organize a way for people to gain immunity but there is not enough of the vaccine to treat everyone in case of an outbreak. In conclusion the smallpox virus, even though it’s not very common in today’s society, still poses a threat to all of the world.

References:
Wikipedia.org, Edward Jenner,2010, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/edward_Jenner
Contenthealthaffairs.org , The History of Vaccines and Immunization: Familiar Patterns, New
Challenges, Alexandra Minna, 2010, http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/24/3/611
Edward Jenner The Discovery of Vaccination, Erin McGregor 2010.
questiaschool.com, A Forgotten Enemy, Sean Creehan, 2 010,http://www.questiaschool.com/read/5000973342