Immunisation and 18th Century Flashcards
What was inoculation?
First form of immunisation
Giving someone a small dose to help resistance
First used in the Middle Ages in the east
Who developed vaccinations?
Edward Jenner
What experiment did Jenner do?
1796
Took pus from a milkmaids cowpox sore and introduced to a cut of a healthy boy - James Phipps
6 weeks later he did the same with smallpox but James didn’t get the disease
What happened in 1840 and 1853
British government made vaccination free for children
Compulsory in 1854
What was a big killer in the 18th century?
Small pox
What was the opposition to the smallpox vaccination?
Jenner could not scientifically explain how it worked
Many worried about side affects
Some believed vaccination was not natural
Who was Florence Nightingale and what did she do?
- from wealthy background, became a nurse despite family opposition
- brought discipline to a job that had a bad reputation at the time
- went to Crimean war to sort nursing in the English camp
- mad huge improvements in death rate, due to improving ward hygiene
- returned home, wrote a book ‘notes on nursing’ and set up hospital in London.
Who was Mary Seacole and what did she do?
- from poor background in Jamaica
- volunteered to help nurse in Crimean war, is rejected, goes anyway self financing her journey
- nursed soldiers on battlefield and built ‘British Hotel’
- went bankrupt, returned to England, received support due to press interest in her story
- writes autobiography.