General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums192 years ago today, the world lost one of its greatest men
On January 26, 1823, Edward Jenner, the father of immunology and the developer of the world's first true vaccine, died.
He's one of the greatest men you've never heard of; his breakthrough in treating infectious diseases has saved countless millions of lives across the world, and the disease his first vaccine treated, smallpox, has been the only disease affecting humans to have been completely eradicated across the globe. Polio, measles and rubella are next in the world's crosshairs.
Vaccines save lives, and the world owes Edward Jenner an enormous debt.
madokie
(51,076 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)sad that the country I love used this method to gain/steal ground/land. I'm proud of the 1/8th Cherokee blood coursing through my veins.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=smallpox+and+native+americans&ia=about
oldandhappy
(6,719 posts)Yep, I never knew about him prior to this post. Appreciate your comment.
JayhawkSD
(3,163 posts)No, no, no. Just kidding. In poor taste, admittedly, but there are those who believe it.
struggle4progress
(118,294 posts)Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 1979; 90: 4455
... He is buried at the church at Worth Matravers. His grave stone indicated that he utilized cow pox material to inoculate his wife and 2 sons in 1774, 22 years before Jenner's experiments in 1796. Jesty's experiments were described in the American literature by Crookshank in 1889 McCrae in 1900, and Gould in 1903. He has received scant attention since then ... Benjamin Jesty was a successful farmer, who lived at Yetminster and then moved to Downshay. He dealt in cattle and maintained a herd. In the year 1774, small pox was noted in the vicinity. Jesty had two milkmaids, Ann Notley and Mary Read, who had attended a brother and a nephew suffering with small pox. Neither acquired the disease despite this close contact. Both had previously been infected with cow pox. Farmer Jesty knew that a neighboring farmer, Mr. Elford of Chittenhall had several cows then infected with the pox. He took his wife and two small sons, Robert, age 2, and Benjamin, age 3, to Farmer Elford's fields. Using his wife's knitting needle and material from one of Elford's infected cows he inoculated the boys on one arm above the elbow and Mrs. Jesty below the elbow. He did not inoculate himself since he had had cow pox and was certain he was already protected. The boys got local reactions while Mrs. Jesty's arm became much inflamed and she became rather ill. Mr. Trowbridge, the local surgeon, was called to attend her. The boldness and novelty of the attempt produced "no small alarm in the family and no small sensation in the neighborhood". All survived the experiment. Elizabeth Jesty lived until 1824, and was buried beside her husband (Figure 6). In 1789 the surgeon, Mr. Trowbridge, during another small pox epidemic, inoculated the two Jesty boys and many of the other children in the neighborhood utilizing material from a known case of small pox. All of the children acquired small pox except the Jesty boys who remained well. On several occasions Jesty's sons were exposed to small pox without acquiring the disease, including at least one time when Farmer Jesty had them deliberately exposed. Farmer Jesty extended his practice of vaccination to others including Abigail Brown, as indicated on a plaque at the church at Worth Matravers. In summary, Benjamin Jesty, observed the protection afforded milkmaids by the acquisition of cow pox; inoculated his wife and sons with cow pox material; proved that protection was provided by having the sons inoculated with small pox and exposing them to small pox; and used the technique in others ...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2279376/pdf/tacca00099-0087.pdf
GeorgeGist
(25,321 posts)Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)nt.
ashling
(25,771 posts)of course my elementary school days were over in 1963
Hekate
(90,714 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)grade school when I read of him!
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)That would surprise me.