What is variolation and how was it used?
Variolation used a lancet or needle to introduce pulverized dried smallpox scabs or pustule fluid into the skin of an individual. This resulted in a milder form of the disease with a much lower fatality rate (2–3%), compared to natural smallpox infection.
Is variolation a permanent treatment for smallpox?
var· i· o· la· tion | \ ˌvar-ē-ə-ˈlā-shən \ Medical Definition of variolation : the deliberate inoculation of an uninfected person with the smallpox virus (as by contact with pustular matter) that was widely practiced before the era of vaccination as prophylaxis against the severe form of smallpox Learn More About variolation
What is variolation and how dangerous is it?
variolation, obsolete method of immunizing patients against smallpox by infecting them with substance from the pustules of patients with a mild form of the disease (variola minor). The disease then usually occurs in a less-dangerous form than when contracted naturally.
What is the Suttonian method of variolation?
Jan 01, 2017 · We’ve all heard of vaccination, but what do you know about variolation? Variolation was a primitive method of immunizing people against smallpox. In a nutshell, people were intentionally infected with a mild case of smallpox to prevent a more serious, deadly case. Variolation gets its name from Variola - the scientific name for the smallpox virus.
What is the difference between variolation and vaccination?
Variolation used viral matter from smallpox patients, usually pus from a light case of smallpox. Jenner's vaccination, meanwhile, used matter from the milder cowpox virus. As a milder disease carrying the same immunities, cowpox matter was much safer.May 12, 2020
What is variolation and how is it done?
In Asia, practitioners developed the technique of variolation—the deliberate infection with smallpox. Dried smallpox scabs were blown into the nose of an individual who then contracted a mild form of the disease. Upon recovery, the individual was immune to smallpox.Oct 18, 2002
What is variolation When and why was it used?
Variolation, the practice of infecting people with low doses of smallpox, dates back to 1000 BC in India. It would generally induce a mild form of the disease, which would prevent the person from being re-infected. Edward Jenner realised that a milkmaid infected with cowpox would not subsequently get smallpox.
What is variolation in simple terms?
Medical Definition of variolation : the deliberate inoculation of an uninfected person with the smallpox virus (as by contact with pustular matter) that was widely practiced before the era of vaccination as prophylaxis against the severe form of smallpox.
Is variolation still used today?
The method is no longer used today. It was replaced by the smallpox vaccine, a safer alternative. This in turn led to the development of the many vaccines now available against other diseases.
Is vaccination safer than variolation?
The Latin name for cow is “vacca,” so Jenner named his process “vaccination,” and by 1800, vaccination, which was much safer than variolation, had spread to many European countries, and to the United States, where President Thomas Jefferson set up a national vaccination program.Jul 12, 2021
Is there any vaccine for rhino virus?
There are no appropriate antiviral therapies available and vaccine strategies have failed because of the large number of viral serotypes and the lack of cross-serotype protection generated.
What causes cowpox?
Cowpox is a skin disease caused by a virus belonging to the Orthopoxvirus genus. Sporadic human cases of cowpox have been reported in Europe, mostly linked to handling of infected animal, usually rodents and cats. Human infection results from direct contact with an infected animal.
Who used to test variolation?
Jenner also knew about variolation and guessed that exposure to cowpox could be used to protect against smallpox. To test his theory, Dr. Jenner took material from a cowpox sore on milkmaid Sarah Nelmes' hand and inoculated it into the arm of James Phipps, the 9-year-old son of Jenner's gardener.Feb 20, 2021
What is variolation in biology?
Variolation: The old practice of inoculating someone with the virus of smallpox to produce immunity to the disease.Jun 3, 2021
What was the first viral vaccine?
The smallpox vaccine was the first vaccine to be developed against a contagious disease. In 1796, the British doctor Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the relatively mild cowpox virus conferred immunity against the deadly smallpox virus.
What is the purpose of variolation?
Variolation, the intentional inoculation of an individual with smallpox material, traces back to 16th century China. Variolation used a lancet or needle to introduce pulverized dried smallpox scabs or pustule fluid into the skin of an individual. This resulted in a milder form of the disease with a much lower fatality rate (2–3%), ...
When was variolation first used?
History of vaccines. Variolation, the practice of infecting people with low doses of smallpox, dates back to 1000 BC in India. It would generally induce a mild form of the disease, which would prevent the person from being re-infected.
Who was the first person to use variolation?
In the United States, variolation was promoted by a prominent minister, Cotton Mather, in collaboration with a Boston physician, Zabdiel Boylston.17,152 General George Washington instituted variolation among the Continental Army in 1777 in an effort to minimize the drastic effect smallpox outbreaks were having on soldiers' combat readiness.16 Thomas Jefferson and his family underwent variolation in 1782. 162 Benjamin Franklin lost a 4-year-old son to smallpox in 1736 and later became an outspoken proponent of variolation, even setting up an organization to provide free variolation to poor people. 163,164
What was the first attempt to prevent disease?
The first efforts to vaccinate were, in fact variolation (from Latin variola, smallpox), which is the use of tissues or fluids containing a virus that has lost its virulence, to induce the immune response and therefore to create immunity without causing the disease. The first known certifiable and deliberate effort to prevent disease using such methods is with smallpox, as is suggested by the name. It is not until use of the cowpox virus to create an acquired immunity to smallpox, did the science of vaccination take off, and this name comes again from the Latin, but for cow, vacca.
Where was variolation practiced?
By 1700, variolation was employed in a number of societies in Africa, India, and the Ottoman empire, and it was in use in England and France in the 1700s. 16 The practice of variolation was not without risk and sometimes caused outbreaks of a mild form of the disease.
Where did smallpox originate?
The origin of this strain is unknown. However, a similarly mild strain of smallpox, called Kaffir pox, had begun to circulate widely in South Africa in the early 1890s. What, if any, connection there was between these two foci of variola minor infections is unknown.
What is variolation in medicine?
Variolation was the method of inoculation first used to immunize individuals against smallpox ( Variola) with material taken from a patient or a recently variolated individual, in the hope that a mild, but protective, infection would result.
Why is variolation used?
The term variolation was then used from the 19th century to avoid confusion with vaccination. Most modern writers tend to refer to smallpox inoculation as variolation throughout without regard for chronology, as is used here.
What is the medical term for smallpox?
The terminology used to describe the prevention of smallpox can cause confusion. In 18th-century medical terminology, inoculation refers to smallpox inoculation. Confusion is caused by writers who interchange variolation and vaccination through either mistranslation or misinterpretation. The term variolation refers solely to inoculation ...
How did the Chinese practice variolation?
The Chinese practiced the oldest documented use of variolation, dating back to the fifteenth century. They implemented a method of " nasal insufflation " administered by blowing powdered smallpox material, usually scabs, up the nostrils. Various insufflation techniques have been recorded throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries within China. According to such documentation, mild smallpox cases were selected as donors in order to prevent serious attack. The technique used scabs that had been left to dry out for some time. Fresh scabs were more likely to lead to a full-blown infection. Three or four scabs were ground into powder or mixed with a grain of musk and bound in cotton. Infected material was then packed into a pipe and puffed up the patient's nostril. The practice of variolation is believed to have been ritualized by the Chinese. The blowpipe used during the procedure was made of silver. The right nostril was used for boys and the left for girls. Variolated cases were treated as if they were as infectious as those who had acquired the disease naturally. These patients were subsequently kept apart from others until the rash had cleared. Two reports on the Chinese practice were received by the Royal Society in London in 1700; one by Dr. Martin Lister who received a report by an employee of the East India Company stationed in China, and another by the physician Clopton Havers. But no action was taken.
Where did variolation originate?
Documentation of variolation in the Americas may be traced back to 1706 in Boston, where Puritan minister Cotton Mather learned of the technique from his West African slave Onesimus. Further research into the matter revealed to Mather that several other slaves had too been variolated. In 1714, he came across Timoni's article in Philosophical Transactions, in which he described methods of variolation found in Turkey. Mather was able to implement this new method in 1721 when Boston suffered a smallpox outbreak, although others such as William Douglass strongly opposed the idea.
What was the blowpipe used for variolation?
The practice of variolation is believed to have been ritualized by the Chinese. The blowpipe used during the procedure was made of silver. The right nostril was used for boys and the left for girls.
What would a mother do if she had an unprotected child?
A mother of an unprotected child would visit the house of a newly infected child and tie a cotton cloth around the ailing child's arm. She would then haggle with the child's mother over the cost of each pustule. When a bargain was struck, the woman would return home and tie the cloth around her own child's arm.
What is variolation in medicine?
Variolation was a primitive method of immunizing people against smallpox. In a nutshell, people were intentionally infected with a mild case of smallpox to prevent a more serious, deadly case. Variolation gets its name from Variola - the scientific name for the smallpox virus. Infection with variola major, the most severe strain ...
When was variolation first used?
Records indicate that variolation was first practiced by the Chinese as early as the 15th century. They practiced variolation by nasal insufflation - essentially, you’d suck some stuff up your nose. That “stuff” was usually powdered smallpox scabs.
Who was the first person to get cowpox?
In the late 1700s, Edward Jenner (and others) investigated vaccinating people with cowpox as a way to prevent smallpox (a young boy named James Phipps received Jenner’s first vaccine) . Jenner realized that milk maids often contracted cowpox, but they didn’t get smallpox.
Where does the virus go?
The virus then travels through the bloodstream into the spleen and bone marrow, where it continues to multiply.
When did the World Health Organization start eradicating smallpox?
Global Smallpox Eradication Program. In 1959 , the World Health Organization (WHO) started a plan to rid the world of smallpox. Unfortunately, this global eradication campaign suffered from a lack of funds, personnel, and commitment from countries, and a shortage of vaccine donations.
When did smallpox end?
The Program made steady progress toward ridding the world of this disease, and by 1971 smallpox was eradicated from South America, followed by Asia (1975), and finally Africa (1977).
How many people died from smallpox?
Smallpox was a terrible disease. On average, 3 out of every 10 people who got it died. People who survived usually had scars, which were sometimes severe. One of the first methods for controlling smallpox was variolation, a process named after the virus that causes smallpox (variola virus).
What is Variolation?
Variolation is the process of inoculating an individual with the powdered viral scabs. It is the method used to immunize people against smallpox. It began in China and the Middle East. However, this method is not in use now.
What is Vaccination?
Vaccination is a method of immunization against an infectious agent. During vaccination, administration of an attenuated virus takes place. It is the weakened form of the virus that expresses the antigens. Therefore, the host starts producing antibodies in response to the antigens, thereby generating immunity in the host.
What is the Difference Between Variolation and Vaccination?
Variolation refers to the process of inoculating live virus in order to create immunity against smallpox. In contrast, vaccination refers to the administration of attenuated viruses as vaccines in order to create immunity in people for diseases. So, this is the key difference between variolation and vaccination.
Summary – Variolation vs Vaccination
In summarizing the difference between variolation and vaccination, variolation and vaccination are two methods used as immunization. Variolation involves administering live viruses to develop immunity of the host. In contrast, vaccination involves administering an attenuated virus in response to an infection.
History of Smallpox
- Smallpox was a dangerous infectious disease in the ancient world. In different centuries, smallpox was spread among people at different rates. In the 6th century, it was spread in China, Korea, and Japan. In the 7th century, smallpox was found among the people of Spain, Arab, Nort…
Invention of Variolation
- In the 18th century, smallpox became an extremely terrible disease. The spread of smallpox was out of control in the world. Medical science was not much advanced at that time. There was no specific treatment for smallpox. People were dying from the disease due to a lack of treatment. Many doctors and scientists tried different ways to prevent and cure the disease. No one could f…
Problems of Variolation
- Variolation was the only method to control the spread and harm of smallpox. Though variolation was the first prevention method of smallpox, there are some problems with the method. The problems are mentioned below. 1. Variolation is not a risk-free method. With the substances of smallpox from the patients' pustules, other harmful substances can enter into the body of the un…
Vaccination from Variolation
- Variolation can only prevent smallpox. It is not the treatment procedure of the disease. Also, variolation can protect people from smallpox to a particular extent. In some cases, variolation was unable to protect the patient from the second attack. Therefore, a permanent treatment process of smallpox was necessary. In the 18th century, many scientists tried to bring a permanent solut…
Did You Know?
- Now, we are going to discuss some unknown facts about variolation. 1. There was a widely believed idea that cowpox can be used to immunize against smallpox. 2. Depending on the concept of variolation, British scientist Edward Jenner invented the vaccine of smallpox. 3. India and China were the first civilizations, who inoculated their children against smallpox using variol…
Overview
Variolation was the method of inoculation first used to immunize individuals against smallpox (Variola) with material taken from a patient or a recently variolated individual, in the hope that a mild, but protective, infection would result.
The procedure was most commonly carried out by inserting/rubbing powdered smallpox scabs or fluid from pustules into superficial scratches made in the skin. The virus was normally spread th…
Spread into Western Europe
Letters from physicians in Wales published in 1722 indicated the local use of variolation from as early as 1600 near the Welsh port of Haverfordwest. Another reference to variolation is by Thomas Bartholin in 1675.
After coming across the practice in Constantinople, Emmanuel Timoni the Italian physician to Great Britain's ambassador to Turkey, wrote a letter describing th…
Terminology
The terminology used to describe the prevention of smallpox can cause confusion. In 18th-century medical terminology, inoculation refers to smallpox inoculation. Confusion is caused by writers who interchange variolation and vaccinationthrough either mistranslation or misinterpretation. The term variolation refers solely to inoculation with smallpox virus and is related to but not interchangeable with vaccination. The latter term was first used in 1800 soon …
Origins
The Chinese practiced the oldest documented use of variolation, dating back to the fifteenth century. They implemented a method of "nasal insufflation" administered by blowing powdered smallpox material, usually scabs, up the nostrils. Various insufflation techniques have been recorded throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries within China. According to such documentation, mild smallpox cases were selected as donors in order to prevent serious attack…
Spread into America
Documentation of variolation in the Americas may be traced back to 1706 in Boston, where Puritan minister Cotton Mather learned of the technique from his West African slave Onesimus. Further research into the matter revealed to Mather that several other slaves had too been variolated. In 1714, he came across Timoni's article in Philosophical Transactions, in which he described methods of variolation found in Turkey. Mather was able to implement this new method in 1721 …
Transition into vaccination
The success of variolation led many, including medical professionals, to overlook its drawbacks. Variolation was practiced on the basis that it protected against smallpox for life, and was far less likely to kill than natural infection. In some cases however, natural smallpox or variolation failed to protect from a second attack. These cases were a result of a lapse of immune "memory" , while others may have been misdiagnosed (experts often confused smallpox with chickenpox). Variola…
Decline
Although variolation eventually declined or was banned in some countries, it was still practiced in others. "Buying the smallpox" was still practiced in Sudan until the late nineteenth century. However, variolation survived longer elsewhere. During the World Health Organization's Smallpox Eradication Campaign, vaccination teams came across variolators in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan and their samples were confiscated. In the early stages of the campaign, live vi…
Other diseases
Although variolation has ceased, it has influenced the concept of other traditional practices, such as "pox parties", in which children are intentionally exposed to diseases like chickenpox, measles and rubella, in an attempt to gain immunity. Although strongly discouraged by public health officials, the practice persists.
While intentional exposure has been rejected as a strategy to combat COVID-19because of the ri…