Edward Jenner and the Discovery of Vaccines Essay - 755 Words

Edward Jenner and the Discovery of Vaccines Edward Jenner (1749-1823) trained in London, under John Hunter, and was an army surgeon for a period of time. After that, he spent his whole career as a country doctor in his home county, Gloucestershire (West of England). His research was based on careful case studies and clinical observation more than a hundred years before scientists could explain what viruses and diseases actually were. His innovative new method was successful to such an extent that by 1840 the British government had banned alternative preventive treatments against smallpox. [IMAGE] His invention of vaccination against smallpox was the medical breakthrough that saved the†¦show more content†¦He inoculated by taking a very small quantity of fluid from an unripe smallpox pustule, on the point of a lancet, and inserting it between the outer and inner layers of the skin of the upper arm without drawing blood. He did not use a bandage to cover the incision. Jenner had always been fascinated by the rural old wives tale that milkmaids could not get smallpox. He believed that there was a connection between the fact that milkmaids only got a weak version of smallpox (the non-life threatening cowpox) but did not get the strong version, smallpox itself. A milkmaid who caught cowpox got blisters on her hands and Jenner concluded that it must be the pus in the blisters that somehow protected the milkmaids. Jenner began to inoculate against smallpox using Suttons method, but he soon found some patients to be completely resistant to the disease. Upon investigation, he found that these patients had previously had cowpox. Jenner concluded that cowpox not only protected against smallpox, but also could be transferred from one human being to another as a deliberate mechanism of protection. As early as 1780 Jenner learned that the eruptions of the teats of infected cows differed. All were called cowpox and all could be transferred to the hands of the milkmaids, but only one kind created a resistance to smallpox. He called this type true cowpox. Jenner discovered thatShow MoreRelatedThe Epidemic Of Smallpox During The Middle Ages866 Words   |  4 Pageshealth care. English Physician and Scientist Edward Jenner, a small country doctor, who is well known around the world for his innovative contribution to immunization and the ultimate eradication of smallpox. (2005, Baylor University Medical Center.) It is believed that smallpox appeared around 10,000 B.C. Smallpox was introduced to Europe sometime between the fifth and seventh centuries and was frequently epidemic during the Middle Ages. Edward Jenner was born on May 17, 1749, in Berkeley, GloucestershireRead MoreIndividuals and Their Discoveries Are Not Enough to Bring Medical Progress. 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