While it is true that the discovery of the smallpox vaccine by Edward Jenner forever changed the way we relate to disease and raised human well-being to levels never seen before, no less true is that without the work of some people who defended scientific evidence and spread the benefits of this medicine throughout the world new breakthrough, the deadly disease would have claimed a few tens of millions more lives than it did.
In this sense, one of the personalities that contributed the most to the expansion of the long-awaited remedy for smallpoxwhich is estimated to have claimed more than 500 million lives in the 20th century alone, was the Spanish military surgeon and physician, as well as a botanist, Francisco Javier de Balmis y Berenguer.
The history of this illustrious figure in medicine begins in 1753, in Alicante. Francisco Javier de Balmis y Berenguer came from a family with a deep-rooted tradition in surgery. Son and grandson of bleeders-barbers-surgeons, after finishing high school he entered the Royal Military Hospital of Alicante, where he would train under the orders of the institution’s senior surgeon.
Balmis would continue his training in the army, and thus, in 1775, he would march with the expedition led by General Count alexander of O’Reilly that by order of Carlos III left for Algiers. He would finally obtain the title of surgeon 3 years later, in 1778, in Valencia. After graduating he also served in the siege of Gibraltar, a campaign after which, in 1781, he was assigned to the Zamora regiment, together with which, in the Expedition of the Marquis of Socorroundertakes his first trip to the New World.
Balmis’ medical training
During the following 10 years, Balmis would pass with glory through various hospitals and garrisons in the Antilles and Mexico, becoming appointed senior surgeon in some of the best hospitals in the Spanish overseas territories. During this period, in 1787, he would also graduate in Arts from the University of Mexico, and only a year later, in 1788, he would temporarily leave the army and embark on a journey dedicated to the study of American plants and to understand the medical tradition of the different indigenous tribes, which later, in 1794, would serve to publish the Treatise on the virtues of agave and begonia; remedies for some venereal diseases.
Once back in Spain, in 1798, Balmis graduated with a bachelor’s degree in medicine from the Royal University of Toledo, becoming appointed chamber surgeon of Charles IV, whom he persuaded to send an expedition to the Americas to propagate Edward Jenner’s newly discovered smallpox vaccine, of which he was among his earliest supporters. Thus, his project published in 1803, Course to be followed for the propagation of the vaccine in His Majesty’s domains in Americamaterialized that same year in the call Royal Philanthropic Vaccine Expeditionof which he was appointed director.
3 years to spread the vaccine throughout America and Asia
The expedition led by Balmis, left La Coruña on November 30, 1803. It would travel the world for 3 years, between 1803 and 1806, spreading the smallpox vaccine throughout extensive territories of America and Asiasometimes due to the little collaboration of the authorities.
Upon his return, which was accompanied by a detailed collection of plant specimens for the Madrid Botanical Garden, Balmis was received with praise by Carlos IV and his court. In the following years he would make one last trip to America, in 1810, in order to check the progress of vaccination and solve some problems regarding the fluid that preserved the vaccines, of which stocks seemed to be scarce. Upon his return, marked by the political situation derived from the Napoleonic invasion, in which he took sides against the invader, he was recognized with honors and various positions that he held until his death on February 12, 1819. .
