Cowpox Research Paper

The human race faced a devastating disease that wiped out many innocent lives all over the world. That epidemic was known as smallpox; which was eradicated in May of 1980. This disease was a highly contagious virus which caused sores or lesions that developed all over the body. It could have been either fatal or horribly debilitating-to those who overcame the horrific illness. Smallpox was said to have, most often, left victims permanently blind. It was not preventable until a cure was found through another disease known as cowpox. The symptoms of cowpox mimicked that of smallpox, but on a much smaller scale. It was found on the cow’s utter and would spread to humans when they would milk the infected cows. Therefore, the cowpox sores were …show more content…
It was said to have been an inflamed heel that produced a bacterial substance; which is transferred on the hands of humans-without proper hand washing in between-to a cow’s utter. The absence of hygiene during the time of the pandemic explained how the disease could be passed on from an animal to a human. An exact time period of when the illness began remains unknown; however, research showed traces of smallpox dated back to ancient times when the practice of agriculture was first established. This virus spread to South America through the Spanish conquistadors that settled in the Aztec and Incan empires. Northern America suffered once explorers began traveling to “the New World;” the Native Americans contracted smallpox and their population …show more content…
There’s “true cowpox,” which provided the proper immunization and “spurious cowpox,” which did not work effectively and sometimes even made the patients more ill that expected. The discovery of the two strains of cowpox lead to some disapproval of the vaccine; due to the chance that someone could become infected with the spurious cowpox instead of the safer, true cowpox. Along with that chance, some critics also believed that the new founding of a vaccine would result in a loss of money. People of certain religions felt that it was unacceptable to put “animal material” into one’s body. Throughout Jenner’s vaccination discovery he wrote some pamphlets on his findings. A few of these include: On the Origin of the Vaccine Inoculation, Instructions for Vaccine Inoculation, and Varieties and Modifications of the Vaccine Pustule. Edward made a lot of other achievements during his lifetime. He was the founder of the “Cheltenham Literary and Philosophical Society,” received a gold medal from the British naval officers-his vaccine was used in the army-and he produced research on the correlation between angina and the changes that occur in the

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