The discovery of the smallpox vaccine by Edward Jenner occurred in 1796, and it was the first vaccine in history, whose diffusion in Europe and Spain (which brought the vaccine to America and Asia through the Balmis Expedition), saved many lives. Although this discovery was received with enthusiasm, it also had some scientific and ideological opposition from reactionary bishops and enlightened philosophers such as Kant, who opposed vaccination. Jenner was not aware at the time that he was opening the door to the development of vaccines against human diseases, which occurred in the 19th century. XIX thanks to the discoveries of Koch and Pasteur, who demonstrated the infectious origin of many diseases, isolated and cultivated the germs that cause many infectious diseases and developed vaccines, sterilization methods and medicines.
Jenner, an English country doctor, investigated cowpox and the people who milked them very thoroughly. He observed that ranchers, and especially dairymaids, who rubbed the pustules on the udders of sick cows with their hands, contracted cowpox, which caused blisters on their hands; However, when human smallpox epidemics occurred, his families were infected, but not the ranchers and dairymaids. On May 14, 1796, Jenner extracted pus from the blisters of Sarh Nelme, a peasant woman who had cowpox, and inoculated it to James Phipps, the son of her gardener, who, after a week, was mildly ill for a while. two days and he recovered. Six weeks later, Jenner infected that child with human smallpox, without visible effects, and did the same with 22 other people, and none of them had serious consequences or died, thus demonstrating that his method worked and the effectiveness of vaccination. was proven, even though some of his conjectures were scientifically incorrect. It became one of the great advances and achievements in the history of Medicine. A British doctor, Timoteo O’Scanlan, in 1882, gave the first smallpox vaccine in Spain, specifically in the city of Ferrol. Later, Ramón Pérez Costales, Picasso’s doctor and protector during his time in A Coruña, launched a vaccination center with lymph from a cow brought from Bordeaux aboard the steamship Equateur.
The last known and recorded case of smallpox in the world took place in Somalia in 1977. Smallpox was not eradicated by the WHO until May 8, 1980. The fight against smallpox was a great success for humans and a historical milestone of Medicine, and the best example of this has without a doubt been the Balmis Expedition, and there is nothing better than coming to see the exhibition: “The smallpox vaccine: its diffusion in Spain and America”, which takes place at the Salvador de Madariaga House of Culture in A Coruña, and which will be open to the public until November 12, from Monday to Sunday, from 12:00 to 14:00 and from 18:00 to 21:00.
2023-10-22 02:02:44
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