Small Pox In The 19th Century

The discovery of the vaccine for smallpox disease ended a global outbreak of death and helped keep powerful empires from falling. Smallpox ranks among the most devastating illnesses ever suffered by humankind, smallpox is an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus. The disease is spread through direct contact with infected people or body fluids or with contaminated objects. The disease is thought to have originated in India or Egypt about 3,000 years ago, with the earliest evidence dating back to 1157 B.C. In the 20th century it killed some 300 million people globally (National 1).
Spread in an almost domino effect, once one country was exposed it was only a matter of time before the next was hit. From Egypt and China the people of Japan developed the decreased because of an increase in trading between the countries. Then, in the 11th century Crusades further spread smallpox in Europe. In the 17th century we then see the movement of the disease over to North America after it is colonized by Europe. In Europe, smallpox is estimated to have claimed 60 million lives in the 18th century alone. In the 20th century, it killed some 300 million people globally (CDC 1). This
illness literally killed millions upon millions of people and one of the hardest places it hit was North and South America. The disease is estimated to have killed about 90% of Native people in the America’s, for this reason the Aztec’s empire fell will the deaths of all their rulers (History 1). Many empires were on the verge of collapsing when in 1796 an experiment changed the course of human history.
English doctor Edward Jenner performed an experiment that would over time lead to the downfall of the virus.
He discovered by inserting pus from a milkmaid with cowpox that a person could be protected from smallpox without ever having to directly exposed to it. The vaccine was spread slowly around the world but, gradually one country after another rid itself of the disease that had caused so much death and destruction. Jenner had successfully produced the world's first successful vaccine that helped end a long and gruesome era of smallpox. The last reported case in the U.S. was in 1949, and the last known case around the world was in 1977. Then in 1980 the World Health Organization passed a resolution which determined that smallpox had been eradicated throughout the whole world (History
1).
Smallpox was the first disease to be eliminated from the world through public-health efforts and vaccination. The only existing strains of the virus today are guarded in laboratories in Atlanta and Moscow. Many people believe that the threat of smallpox still exists because of the available strains that could potentially be used as biological weapons. While this risk is very low, the U.S. has stockpiled enough vaccine to supply every citizen. Testing on the virus still remains active today with hopes to prevent future widespread diseases such as smallpox (Medicine 1).
The discovery of the vaccine for smallpox disease ended a global outbreak of death and helped keep powerful empires from falling. Smallpox was a disease that killed hundreds of millions of people over the course of about 12,000 years. Countless empires throughout these years felt the substantial force of smallpox that brought many of them to their knees. But, with a medical breakthrough Edward Jenner was able to develop a vaccine for the devastating virus. Over the course of about 200 years the vaccine was able to make its way around the world and fully eradicate the disease. The discovery of this vaccine single handedly ended an era of grave death throughout the entire world. It has given hope to many that terminal diseases can be conquered; which in turn has led to many more medical breakthroughs and hopefully many more yet to come.