Smallpox has been described as one of the most devastating diseases in human history because of its ease of transmission and fatality combined with its disfiguring symptoms. The disease is very easy to transmit because it is contagious before it is symptomatic. Therefore, people can spread the disease before they realize that they have it. This allowed the disease to infect entire populations and made it seem almost inescapable. Living during a small pox epidemic was very much a game of chance. Exposure to the disease was practically certain, and for much of the time that the disease was active the only treatments were based on superstitious ideas such as color or temperature. When someone was infected with the disease their loved ones were forced to watch them suffer the disfiguring symptoms and quite possibly die— knowing full well that they would likely be next.
Some comfort could be found in asking for treatment from a doctor; however the treatments at the time were based on superstition and not scientific evidence. “Red therapy” and “heat therapy”, for example, involved surrounding the patient with the color red and placing them near a fire to heat them. Other practices such as bleeding and drilling holes into patients’ heads were equally ineffective. Eventually it was discovered that by introducing a small amount of the virus to a healthy person they could be protected against having the disease again in the future. This process was called variolation (or inoculation) and killed about one percent of the patients. It was used in western medicine during the 18th century CE and was eventually replaced by vaccination (developed in 1796). Vaccination was developed by Dr. Jenner, who decided to test the local belief that milk maids who contracted cowpox (from milking cows) would never be infected with smallpox. He tested this theory by first infecting an eight year old boy with cowpox and then smallpox. Thankfully, the child survived and the first vaccine was developed. Since this treatment did not contain the smallpox virus it was much safer than variolation. The vaccine was so safe and effective, that it was brought to the New World to combat smallpox outbreaks there. In order to transport the vaccine the cowpox virus had to be kept alive while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, which was accomplished by passing the virus through a number of orphans that were carried over on board a ship. Although the vaccine was safe, effective, and life-saving it still faced opposition from some of the local population.
Objections ranged from selfish and short-term reasons (such as inoculators losing customers) to valid scientific concerns (such as the vaccine being an animal virus and the unknown duration of the immunity). While these objections found their own forms of propaganda, the simple fact that the vaccine worked and prevented people from being disfigured, blinded, or killed by smallpox proved that it was worth the possible risks. In fact, the vaccine was so effective at protecting against smallpox that the World Health Organization determined that the virus could be eradicated completely. This program was started in 1967 and relied on the reporting of smallpox cases and the subsequent vaccination of everyone in a ring around the smallpox victim (called “selective control”). This method faced logistical difficulties such as simply finding all of the cases of smallpox across the globe and getting the vaccine to people in remote areas. However, it also allowed the vaccine to be used where it was most needed. Eventually, the World Health Organization certified the eradication of smallpox in 1980.
After over one thousand years and millions of deaths, the smallpox virus was eradicated. This event marked one of the greatest scientific triumphs of human history; however, it is often forgotten today. People have forgotten the importance of vaccinations in a world where infectious diseases do not simply sweep through entire cities, killing and disfiguring hundreds or thousands of people at random. As these lethal preventable diseases re-emerge due to pseudo-scientific claims about the dangers of vaccines, people could once again be faced with a simple choice that is devoid of any ethical arguments, imagined risks, or hypothetical dilemmas: vaccinate or die.
Townsend Wilburn