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The smallpox vaccine is used to prevent smallpox infection caused by the variola virus. [10] It is the first vaccine to have been developed against a contagious disease. In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the relatively mild cowpox virus conferred immunity against the deadly smallpox virus.
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. [7] [11] The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) certified the global eradication of the disease in 1980, [10] making smallpox the only human disease to have been eradicated to date.
The clearest description of smallpox from pre-modern times was given in the 9th century by the Persian physician, Muhammad ibn Zakariya ar-Razi, known in the West as "Rhazes", who was the first to differentiate smallpox from measles and chickenpox in his Kitab fi al-jadari wa-al-hasbah (The Book of Smallpox and Measles). [27]
Smallpox is more dangerous than variolation and cowpox less dangerous than variolation. Hypothesis: If target is infected with cowpox, then target is immune to smallpox. Test: If variolation after infection with cowpox fails to produce a smallpox infection, immunity to smallpox has been achieved. Consequence:
The most common type of smallpox, ordinary, historically has devastated populations with a 30% death rate. The smallpox virus is transmittable through bodily fluids and materials contaminated with infected materials. Generally, face-to-face contact is required for an individual to contract smallpox as a result of an interaction with another human.
The FDA approved a drug that could be used to treat smallpox, a disease that was officially eradicated in 1980 -- but that doesn't mean it's gone for good.
Other communities decimated by smallpox in the 1730s include the Lower Loup, Pawnee of Nebraska, Cherokee, and Kansa. [2] In 1796, English physician Edward Jenner discovered that infecting a person with the comparatively mild cowpox infection could provide immunity to smallpox, and thus invented the world's first vaccine.
A 2 + 1 ⁄ 2-year-old boy admitted to Willard Parker Hospital for treatment of whooping cough just prior to Le Bar's death also came down with smallpox and was diagnosed on March 17. In addition, Carmen Acosta—Ishmael Acosta's wife—was admitted to Willard Parker Hospital on April 6 with a rash and fever, and was diagnosed with smallpox a ...