Smallpox is a serious and contagious disease due to a virus that got thousand millions people killed. It is believed that smallpox have originated in Africa and than spread to China and India. In 1350 BC there was a first record of smallpox during Egyptian-Hittite war.
By 5th and 7th centauries smallpox has reached Europe and a peak of epidemics was in 18th centaury. Every single country through the world had significant disease except the isolated islands like Australia.As the result millions of people died and mostly in Mexico and Europe. Almost every single country in Europe have been evolved in fighting with it and especially England that had a huge impact on economics as well as on medicine evolutionary and had a massive social impact.
Overall, smallpox caused an immense suffering through the ages. About one-third or more of victims died, and many of the survivors were crippled. Everyone was susceptible, unless they previously had smallpox or had been immunized.Smallpox is contagious from when patients first begin to feel ill, about 10 - 14 days after they were exposed to infection, until the last scab falls off, about three weeks after they become ill. In the days before vaccination, it was said that smallpox was "a river that everyone had to cross". The fall of smallpox was based on people getting immune to it once they already had smallpox.
The practice that was applied to immune people was called variolation- a process of exposing a healthy person to infected material from a person with smallpox in hopes of producing a mild isease that provided immunity from further infection. By 1700’s his method was common practice in China, India and Turkey. Since this method was too risky to apply overall 2% to 3% people died of smallpox. The British considered using smallpox as a biological during French and Indian Wars in 1754-1973 that almost led to another human disaster that luckily enough didn’t occur. The last naturally occurring case of smallpox (Variola minor) was diagnosed on 26th of October 1977 in Somalia.Many countries have been evolved in vaccine research and most of them failed; however, England had made a hug step forward in terms medicine, when English Physician Edward Jenner made an observation that: milkmaids who developed cowpox, a less serious disease, did not develop the deadly smallpox.
Jenner tool fluid from cowpox pustule on a dairymaid’s hand and inoculated an 8-year-old boy.In six weeks he exposed the box to smallpox and didn’t find any side affects or symptoms. He decided to use term “vaccine” that came from Latin “vacca” which means, “Cow”. Even thought his work was rejected in a way as well as criticized, it was rapidly adopted and accepted. With his vaccinating techniques there was about 100 thousand people cured.
Jenner’s idea literally inspired the other physicians, doctors and medics.With the use of his methods the WHO (World Health Organization) started a worldwide campaign to uproot smallpox. On 8th of May 1980 the “WHO” officially announced the world free of smallpox. Overall Edward Jenner was the first person who invented a safe way of vaccinating and curing people and started the mass revolutionary in medicine. In 18th centaury when it was the peak of smallpox, it has almost completely paralyzed the economy in the whole of Europe and caused mass trading issues.
