Small Pox In The 20th Century

What is smallpox? The internet has defined it as an “acute contagious immune disease, with fever and pustules (small bumps on the skin filled with pus) that will usually will leave scars.” Smallpox originated in India and Egypt over 3,000 years ago. After that it slowly started to progress to other areas across the world. It then started to show itself in places like Africa, Europe and then after a few years later, finally made it’s way into the Americas during the 1500’s.

Smallpox is an extremely deadly disease which, in one point in time, was the most feared disease on the planet. In the book Pox Americana, Elizabeth A. Fenn writes about the encounter with the deadly disease in the 1770's to the 1780's. Her book was first published in 2001 in New York City, where she originally wrote it. Her book contains just under 400 words that explain the disease, some of the first encounters with it, who and where it affected people, and how they got the epidemic under control. Pox Americana is a very informative book that teaches the reader various things.

Smallpox, also know as variola virus, is extremely contagious and lethal. In modern day it has been eradicated and we no longer vaccinate the human population. Symptoms begin 12-14 days after infection; after 1-2 days spots turn into blisters and then pustules and after 8-9 days these pustules become crusted. If the person survives, large disfiguring scars remain (Merck, 2003).

The Gero Codex was created during a time in history called the dark ages. The dark ages started after the fall of the Roman Empire which ultimately lead to a great downfall in culture.

Smallpox is an infectious virus that has influenced people for many centuries. Smallpox got its name from a latin word called ¨spotted¨ since you get those bumps that are red all over your body. You could easily prevent this disease.

Children are susceptible to many more infections and diseases than adults. Adults have higher tolerance for diseases and even though they are still affected, they aren’t at as high of a risk for fatally. Medical treatment for such diseases or infections have come a long way since the 1700’s with the help of Edward Jenner. Two of the major deadly diseases in young children were the bubonic plague (also known as “black death”) and small pox. Some of the more common diseases/infections were the measles and influenza which are still affecting children in 2015 (Children and Youth in History).

Humans are believed to have first been infected by smallpox 12,000 years ago, when people began domesticating animals in the time of the earliest agricultural settlements (Youngerman 14; Greenspan 3). In fact, “Ramses V…looks to have had the raised bumps on his face and body for which smallpox was named…,” proving that smallpox may have predated the New Kingdom of Egypt (1570 B.C.—1085 B.C.) (Greenspan 3). Contrary to prior investigation, the most virulent strain of smallpox originated in sub-Saharan Africa, rather than Asia (Porter 36). This information led to the advanced belief that the Atlantic Slave Trade unleashed smallpox and, consequently, death (Porter 36). Although sub-Saharan Africa held the deadliest strain of smallpox, the constant

Millions of deaths were caused by smallpox through the 20th century. Catching smallpox was easy as catching a cold. A piece of cloth, blood, etc could all be fatal. In 1796 physician Edward Jenner discovered the first working vaccine to cure smallpox. Jenner placed cowpox into a boys arm. He later introduced the smallpox virus to the boy and he didn't fall ill with the disease.

Armed with opposable thumbs and high-functioning frontal lobes, humans have historically battled disease, including the “the speckled monster”; smallpox. Known as a highly contagious virus, smallpox has been around since 10,000 B.C., and its plagues are responsible for causing millions of deaths. There was no knowledge of how to treat or prevent this disease from spreading until the idea of taking samples of dead smallpox cells and injecting them into a human was proven to build immunity. Over time, the treatment was perfected and has changed medical history by introducing the idea of the vaccine. Smallpox vaccinations eventually became mandated, and in 1979, smallpox was declared to be the first disease to ever be completely eradicated from

Imagine a quick spreading rash throughout the entire body, leaving not a single space behind; every opening and crevice in your body, including your mouth and eyes covered in painful bumps accompanied by high fever and severe body aches. Flat red spots transforming into fluid-filled lesions and soon oozing out yellow pus, evidently emitting a pungent odor to anyone who dared get close. The live virus present in the darkening crusty scabs that would soon fall off only to leave behind a deep pitted scarred filled complexion on anyone who was fortunate enough to survive. These scars would be forever remembered as the hallmark for the smallpox epidemic which tormented the world for over 3,000 years. (Riedel “Deadly Diseases”).

Smallpox is indeed a very infectious disease that had taken many lives in the past. I really enjoyed reading your board because you had made a very positive connection between cultural practices and human infectious diseases, Edward Jenner discovering a vaccine that had saved many lifes. Vaccines are a very important and without them, the human population numbers would

What makes smallpox so interesting as it comes in mainly two different forms, Variola Major and Variola Minor. Human perception has given us the insight to know Variola Major, smallpox major, is the form that concerns us the most. The virus is passed from host to host through being inhaled, but another form of it being passed is by contact through the infected crusts of the rash. The effects of the virus were explained to have symptoms of fever, nausea, and pain throughout the body. The most symbolic feature of the virus is the raised pox which would crust over but sometimes turns into the much deadlier black smallpox, only affected two percent of its victims. The look alone of the raised pox themselves would relate to which type of pox the person was carrying. If the pox were spread out it would be minor, but if they were close together they were Variola Major and the likelihood of recovery dropped significantly. The smallpox being explained as extremely painful was just the tip of the iceberg for once the virus left the body it caused the immune system to weaken, once the immune system was weakened so much by fighting off the virus it allowed for bacterial infections to come in and finish the job. There being no remedy for the virus the only thing people could do was wait it out. Smallpox, according to historians, is regarded to be one of the deadliest diseases to ever make its way through mankind, killing up

Smallpox has been the worst disease ever, killing over 300 million people in the 20th century alone and today it would still be killing if it hadn’t been for a man named Edward Jenner. Edward Jenner was a british physician who created the first vaccine. He, like many others, wanted to end this terrible disease so when he heard a rumor in a small town that milk maids couldn’t get smallpox, he decided to investigate. Following his investigation in the small town he concluded that the milk maids were immune to smallpox because they had cow pox which at worst would leave red streaks along your body. In order to test his theory he decided to inject the cowpox virus into a small boy and after a few days he would then put the smallpox virus into him and sure enough when he did put the smallpox vaccine into the boy it had no effects. His treatment for smallpox quickly spread and by the 1800s had become a way to treat smallpox and in 1970 smallpox was eradicated making it no longer a threat to society. The smallpox vaccine works just like vaccine today by boosting the immune system to fight diseases. They work by tricking the body into thinking it has the disease in order for it to produce antibodies, these antibodies are released into the bloodstream find the pathogen(disease) and kill it. These vaccines are made up of many different things however, they are mostly dead diseases, poisons, and germs that won’t cause you harm but will cause the body to kill it and remember the diseases, poison etc, so you are immune forever form it. Because of vaccines humans have lived longer and the average for year of death has gone up 30 years. These vaccine are very reliable too, they work 90% to 100% of the time and have saved countless lives. Today, before children even get to school they already have had 95% of their vaccinations before they enter school. The vaccinations they receive include, chickenpox, diphtheria, human

The standard conditions were peptic ulcers and diarrhea; peptic ulcers were a disease that affected most of the worriers who showed signs of the emotional disturbances. Most of the researchers are of my opinion that the second somatic infection was the cardiovascular diseases. This manifested on the patients in very many ways including the arteriosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, and the coronary disease. According to research conducted by Bobowik, Bilbao, and Momoitio (87-100), it approximates the percentage of patients that must have suffered from respiratory infections to be 30%. The research goes ahead to explain that the survivors had developed a partial resistance to sexually transmitted diseases. As far as other studies are concerned, there was also cases of kidney stones and skeleton-related sickness. Therefore, for regard to physical effects, we realize that Holocaust had done a lot of distraction to people and not even a single survivor can wish for it to occur again (Braga, Mello, and Fiks, 134).

Thanks to the use of vaccinations, Smallpox was eradicated, meaning it now does not exist. In 1796 a physician named Edward Jenner decided to prove a theory when there was a disease called “smallpox” that began to kill millions of people. Smallpox was a less serious disease related to cowpox that milkmaids caught through the exposure of infected cows. Milkmaids who contracted cowpox were immune to smallpox. What Jenner did was take some infected cowpox and exposed it to a cut in a boys arm. Once the boy recovered, Jenner exposed him to smallpox through injection and the first vaccine was born. Edward Jenner's work was the first to control an infectious disease by the use of vaccination. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “On May 8, 1980, the 33rd World Health Assembly officially declared the world free of this disease. Eradication of smallpox is considered the biggest achievement in international public health”. Thanks to those who vaccinated against smallpox they allowed the spread of the disease to eliminate and that disease is no longer around today to exposure anyone. If we all continue to vaccinate completely, in the future some diseases of today will no longer be around to harm future generations.