C6 - Prevention of Disease Flashcards
Why was smallpox such a dangerous disease in the eighteenth century?
It was one of the biggest killer diseases in the 18th century. It was a highly infectious virus spread by coughing, sneezing or touching an infected person. It killed 30% of those who caught it.
What were the symptoms of smallpox?
Fever, headache, rash, followed by pus-filled blisters covering the entire body. Even if you survived you could be left blind or with deep scars.
How was smallpox prevented before Jenner?
Inoculation was used, but it was controversial and didn’t always work.
What was inoculation?
It involved giving a healthy person a mild dose of a disease. Dried scabs were scratched into their skin or blown up their nose. It allowed them to build up resistance to the deadly version. It became fashionable after 1721 when, having seen it done in Turkey, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu had her children inoculated. It became common from the 1740s and many doctors became rich from the procedure.
What were the problems with inoculation?
- some people had religious objections, believing that preventing sickness interfered with God’s will
- there was a lack of understanding and disbelief that it would work
- there was a risk that the smallpox dose was not mild and could kill
- inoculated people could still pass on smallpox to others
- poor people could not afford to be inoculated
What was cowpox?
A milder version of smallpox that usually affected cows
Who was Edward Jenner (1749-1823)?
He was a country doctor in Gloucestershire who invented vaccination.
What was Jenner’s experiment?
Jenner had heard stories that people who caught cowpox were protected from smallpox, so he decided to test this out. In 1796, he gave an 8-year-old boy cowpox then gave him a smallpox inoculation. If it worked, he would not react to the smallpox inoculation, if it didn’t work, he would develop small scabs in the normal way. No disease followed the boy’s inoculation. He repeated the experiment over several weeks with 16 patients, none of whom reacted to the inoculation. Jenner concluded correctly that cowpox protected humans from smallpox.
Why was vaccination eventually accepted?
- Jenner had proved the effectiveness of vaccination by scientific experiment
- vaccination was less dangerous than inoculation
- members of the royal family were vaccinated, which influenced opinion
- Parliament acknowledged Jenner’s research with a £10,000 grant in 1802
- in 1853, the British government made smallpox vaccination compulsory
