Summary Of Survival Of The Sickest

First, in 1796, a doctor named Edward Jenner performed the very first vaccination. “Taking pus from a cowpox lesion on a milkmaid’s hand, Jenner inoculated an eight-year-old boy, James Phipps. Six weeks later Jenner variolated two sites on Phipps ' arm with smallpox, yet the boy was unaffected by this as well as subsequent exposures” (Minna & Markel, 2005)& (Cave, 2008). The first vaccination allowed people to recognize that it was beneficial for their health. It provided the base for the rest of the variations of vaccinations to come. Vaccinations began with the notion that it is rooted in the science of immunology. Throughout history, there have been many variations of this first vaccine for things such as small pox, mumps, malaria and guinea worm. (The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, n.d.)

The history of vaccinations begin with Edward Jenner, the country doctor from Gloucestershire who found, growing on cows, a nearly harmless virus the protected people from smallpox. Jenner’s vaccine was safer, more reliable, and more durable than variolation, and it is still the only vaccine to have eliminated its reason for being-in 1980, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease extinct. For nearly a century and a half, smallpox was the only vaccine routinely administered, and it saved millions of lives . But the controversy that marked the return of the vaccine, amid bioterrorism hysteria in 2002, was only the latest twist in the remarkable, mysterious life of vaccines.

In Survival of the Sickest, Dr. Sharon Moalem shares his perspective on “modern disease” and how exactly these disease came to be- through evolution. Revolving around the concept that “whatever let you live another day was evolutionarily desirable”, Dr. Moalem revealed that diseases found in humans were actually all just the result of the same process that distinguished the species from other life: natural selection. Moreover, the diseases that were killing us now- actually gave us (our predecessors) happier, longer lives tens, hundreds, thousands, or even millions of years ago. In a way, Dr. Moalem suggested that diseases were almost a defense mechanism- spurred by humankind’s desperate struggle to survive in times of crisis (e.g. plagues, Ice Ages, natural disaster).

Ainsworth, Steve. “Vaccination: Where It All Began.” Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost. Accessed January 31, 2016. http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=12&sid=bd75326f-a5ed-44b4-99be-e95390625d8a%40sessionmgr114&hid=107&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=51192088&db=aph.

Mandatory vaccination continues to be a contentious subject in the United States, even though extensive evidence proves inoculation prevents certain diseases. According to A. Plotkin & L. Plotkin (2011), the evolution of the first vaccine commenced in the 1700’s when a physician named Edwards Jenner discovered that cowpox protected individuals from one of the deadliest diseases termed smallpox. The precise virus Jenner used is unclear; however, it was espoused in the extermination of smallpox worldwide. The researchers further explained, the unearthing of the subsequent vaccine known as chicken cholera occurred approximately 80 years later by Louise Pasteur. Ever since, copious vaccines such as rabies, yellow fever, varicella, pneumococcal, mumps and recently HPV have been introduced.

One perspective on the beneficial aspect of childhood vaccinations is exhibited by many organizations such as the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and even the World Health Organization (Stinchfield, 2001). This is the perspective that childhood vaccination is ultimately the best way to eradicate diseases throughout the world (Olubukola & Lewis, 2007). There is a large amount of evidence to support this belief; specifically, evidence which supports that vaccine development and use aided significantly in the elimination of smallpox and the drastic reduction of polio cases throughout the world (Bonanni, Sacco, Donato, & Capei, 2014). Between 1900 and 1904, an average of 48,164 cases and 1528 caused by smallpox were reported each year throughout the United States (CDC, 1999). Through the use of vaccination, the prevalence of smallpox steadily decreased until about 1929 when cases only rarely

Amid all of the heated debates about the pros and cons of vaccines, it is quite easy to get lost when medical terms are bandied about by both sides. It is impossible to create an informed opinion on the topic without understanding exactly what is being discussed. The origins of the modern vaccine can

Until the development of the smallpox vaccine in 1796, inoculation using the live smallpox virus was the only way to protect people from the deadly disease. Those inoculated had a chance of contracting the full virus and potentially dying from the disease. When Edward Jenner discovered that he could use a similar disease found in cattle, he began the modern era of vaccination (The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 2015). Over the next 200 years, smallpox was essentially driven extinct by vaccination programs. Due to vaccines, a disease that killed an estimated 300 million people in the 20th century alone now only exists in a Center for Disease Control laboratory. (Flight, 2011).

When a vaccine is given, the human body produces antibodies against the foreign substance, thus creating a defense mechanism for immunity to occur. A vaccine is defined as “any preparation used as a preventive inoculation to confer immunity against a specific disease, usually employing an innocuous form of the disease agent, as killed or weakened bacteria or viruses, to stimulate antibody production” (dictionary.com). The epidemic of smallpox is one of the most groundbreaking moments in medical history, It created the usage of vaccination to be extremely normal. Smallpox had managed to kill millions of people, which was a large part of the population at the time. Edward Jenner came up with a vaccine that could treat the outbreak of

The history of vaccines and immunization all started because of Edward Jenner, a country doctor who was living in Berkeley, England, who in 1796 performed the world 's first vaccination. Jenner had an interest in natural history and animal biology sparked his medical understanding of the human- animal trans-species boundaries in disease transmission. Jenner benefitted from his training as a wide-ranging generalist with a broad knowledge of medicine and science. In the 1800, 100,000 people had been vaccinated in Europe, and the vaccination process had begun in the United States as well. In the twentieth century, as vaccinations started to sky rocket, more and more vaccinations were developed; vaccination was adjudicated by the government and was eventually required for children to attend public school.

The history of vaccines dates back to ancient China, where there are writings from the eleventh century that make reference to a primitive form of vaccination, which they called “variolization.” Variolization, or engrafting, is the inoculation of smallpox pus in order to cause smallpox in an attenuated form and thus immunize the patient. This practice was not without risks as a number of people vaccinated in this form contracted a severe form of smallpox and unfortunately passed away. Variolization was introduced in Europe, specifically in Great Britain, in 1721 by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. “During a smallpox epidemic in April 1721, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu asked Dr. Charles Maitland to ‘engraft’ her

Human beings have benefited from vaccines for more than two centuries. Yet the pathway to effective vaccines has been neither neat nor direct. This paper explores the history of vaccines and immunization, beginning with Edward Jenner’s creation of the world’s first vaccine for smallpox in the 1790s. We then demonstrate that many of the issues salient in Jenner’s era—such as the need for secure funding mechanisms, streamlined manufacturing and safety concerns, and deep-seated public fears of inoculating agents—have frequently reappeared and have often dominated vaccine policies. We suggest that historical

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

Before vaccines were invented, whenever an individual contracted a disease, it would easily spread to the people who were in contact with the individual. Many became carriers of the disease, resulting in an outbreak. No one was immune from the disease, thus making the vast majority a suitable host for the pathogen. In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner created the first vaccination for smallpox by applying matters of fresh cowpox lesions on an infected eight years old’s hand (Riedel 2005). The fundamental principle behind vaccine is by injecting an antigen (usually a killed or weakened bacteria cell) into a host body; the antigen will imitate an infection and attack the host body. However, since the antigen is weakened or dead before being administered, it will not make the body sick. The antigen triggers the immune system to produce T-lymphocytes1, B-lymphocytes2 and antibodies to attack the affected cells, as though the body was infected with a disease. In the future, when the vaccinated individual encounters the disease, his or her immune system will recognize the pathogen and immediately produce the needed antibodies to fight it, preventing the individual from infected (“Understanding How Vaccines Work” 2013).

The modern world is considerably lucky in the fact that vaccinations have been created and made readily available thanks to Edward Jenner and his development of the first vaccine for smallpox in 1796. Since the 18th century, there have been about fifty different vaccines created to protect humans against bacterial and viral diseases. A vaccine is a substance that can be administered through needle injections, by mouth, or by aerosol to stimulate the production of antibodies and supply immunity against one or a few diseases. The vaccine is prepared from the causative agent of a disease and is used to act as an antigen without activating the disease. There are many different