The Eradication of Smallpox

A detailed Summary of The Eradication of Smallpox


Although it has taken a huge collective effort by many individuals and nations, the eradication of smallpox was mainly brought about by the pioneering efforts of Edward Jenner. Smallpox had been killing humans for over 3000 years and has been referred to as one of the greatest all-time scourges to mankind. One of the first known efforts to fight this horrible disease by immunization was in China where powdered scabs of smallpox pustules were blown into the nostrils of healthy persons through a tube. This method of immunization was called variolation and involved taking samples (which consisted of vesicles, pus from pustules, or ground scabs) from patients who had a mild form of the disease and inoculating the material into other persons through the nose or skin (Hopkins 24).

The practice of variolation came to Europe from the East at the beginning of the 18th century by Lady Mary Wortley Montague, and English


Throughout the 1800's and 1900's, the use of widespread vaccinations became commonplace. The impact of Jenner's vaccine was so great that, in 1805, Napoleon himself insisted that all his troops should be vaccinated. By 1950, North America, Central America and Europe were virtually free from the disease. Jenner had fist proposed the idea of worldwide eradication of smallpox by vaccination in 1801, but it took until 1965 for the World Health Organization (WHO) to get such a program underway. As a result of that program, the last natural occurrence of smallpox was treated in 1977 in Somalia. Since then there has only been one other case of smallpox, which was caused by a laboratory mishap in 1978. Victory was declared in the war against smallpox on May 8, 1980 when the WHO declared that smallpox had been completely eradicated (Hopkins 174). Although, throughout history attempts have been made to contain smallpox by variolation and other methods,

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Approximate Word count = 638
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science

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