Tag: smallpox

Smallpox – A Short History of Vaccination (Part 2)

August 28, 2021

Janet Parker was the last person in the world to die from smallpox in 1978. She was working as a scientific photographer above one of the labs at Birmingham Medical School. The lab was working with smallpox and Parker contracted the disease on August 11th. She would die a month later.This event shook the world not only because the last smallpox case in the UK was 5 years prior, but because smallpox was on its way to being confined to the history books. … More Smallpox – A Short History of Vaccination (Part 2)

Scarificator (From the Collection #2)

January 9, 2021

The Story By the 19th century, the scarificator was an essential tool in the practice of bloodletting. First developed in the early 1700s as a more humane and efficient bloodletting instrument than lancets and fleams, scarificators had multiple blades that shot out with the press of a spring-loaded lever creating an instantaneous series of parallel … More Scarificator (From the Collection #2)

From Variolation to Cowpox Vaccination: The First Steps Towards Eradicating Smallpox

May 2, 2014

Edward Jenner looms large in the history of vaccination.  Known today as the “father of immunology,” Jenner is most famous for developing a vaccine against smallpox in the 1790s.  The vaccine brilliantly made use of common knowledge.  Milkmaids were known for having noticeably clear and smooth skin.  They had, it seemed, managed to develop an immunity to smallpox by suffering (and surviving) a bout of the much milder cowpox. … More From Variolation to Cowpox Vaccination: The First Steps Towards Eradicating Smallpox

Vaccines and Immunization: Epidemics, Prevention, and Canadian Innovation

November 25, 2013

There is significant public debate over the merits and risk of vaccinations, much of which is fueled by inflammatory rhetoric rather than facts and science.  This debate has raged ever since the first vaccine for smallpox was proposed by Dr. Edward Jenner in the 1790s and, doubtless, it will continue as new vaccines are developed.  … More Vaccines and Immunization: Epidemics, Prevention, and Canadian Innovation

Mysterious Mexican Disease May Rewrite History of Spanish Conquest

August 22, 2012

My absolute favourite thing about being a history student is having my previous assumptions about historical narratives dashed. During my first year at Queen’s I quickly learned that what was deemed “fact” in my earlier education is actually just one of many historical narratives to consider – history isn’t as cut-and-dried as I had thought. … More Mysterious Mexican Disease May Rewrite History of Spanish Conquest