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NuclearDem

(16,184 posts)
Mon Jan 26, 2015, 11:41 AM Jan 2015

192 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.

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192 years ago today, the world lost one of its greatest men (Original Post) NuclearDem Jan 2015 OP
Very true madokie Jan 2015 #1
Didn't come soon enough to save a lot of Native Americans madokie Jan 2015 #2
:( Cha Jan 2015 #14
Thank you oldandhappy Jan 2015 #3
And he caused autism in the process. JayhawkSD Jan 2015 #4
Who discovered smallpox vaccination? Edward Jenner or Benjamin Jesty? struggle4progress Jan 2015 #5
+1 for the info. GeorgeGist Jan 2015 #12
Never heard of? Jenner was in my elementary text books. Bluenorthwest Jan 2015 #6
Same here ashling Jan 2015 #7
To Jenner Hekate Jan 2015 #8
"He's one of the greatest men you've never heard of"?? WTH hasn't "heard of" Edward Jenner? I was in WinkyDink Jan 2015 #9
It seems when I wrote "you've", I secretly meant "I've." NuclearDem Jan 2015 #11
Bwah! I think maybe, seriously, more "stuff" was taught to kids in the 1950's! WinkyDink Jan 2015 #13
People haven't heard of Jenner? Recursion Jan 2015 #10

madokie

(51,076 posts)
2. Didn't come soon enough to save a lot of Native Americans
Mon Jan 26, 2015, 11:50 AM
Jan 2015

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

 

JayhawkSD

(3,163 posts)
4. And he caused autism in the process.
Mon Jan 26, 2015, 12:39 PM
Jan 2015

No, no, no. Just kidding. In poor taste, admittedly, but there are those who believe it.

struggle4progress

(118,294 posts)
5. Who discovered smallpox vaccination? Edward Jenner or Benjamin Jesty?
Mon Jan 26, 2015, 01:27 PM
Jan 2015
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2279376/

Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 1979; 90: 44–55
... 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
 

WinkyDink

(51,311 posts)
9. "He's one of the greatest men you've never heard of"?? WTH hasn't "heard of" Edward Jenner? I was in
Mon Jan 26, 2015, 02:40 PM
Jan 2015

grade school when I read of him!

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