Thread by @Marwat96060979

First vaccine was invented by Edward Jenner in 1796. Smallpox ravaged communities around the world.Third of adults infected with smallpox would be expected to die, & eight out of 10 infants.The 1721 smallpox outbreak in the US city of Boston wiped out 8% of the population. 1/5

There was,however,one genuine cure, as inoculation,or variolation,it involved taking the pus from someone suffering with smallpox & scratching it into the skin of a healthy individual also blowing smallpox scabs up the nose. Practised in Asia Africa & Europe in 18th century.2/5

Edward Jenner was a country doctor working in the small town of Berkeley in Gloucestershire.He had trained in London under one of the surgeons of the day.Jenner’s interest in curing smallpox is thought to be influenced by his childhood experience of smallpox inoculation. 3/5

In 1796 He took some pus from cowpox lesions on the hands of a young milkmaid,scratched it into the skin of eight-year old James Phipps.After a few days of mild illness,James recovered.James did not develop smallpox,nor did any of the people he came into close contact with.4/5

Nevertheless, Jenner realised that his smallpox vaccine – the name derived from the Latin for cowpox, vaccinia – had the potential to transform medicine and save lives. But he also knew he would only halt the disease if he could vaccinate as many people as possible.