Anyone have thoughts about smallpox?

[KLM99]

I’m reading a book about French royalty in the 1700’s – basically Marie Antoinette era. It seems like everyone is either dying in childbirth or dying of small pox! In fact, I'm off to post about childbirth issues in the homebirth forum next. I read the Wikipedia entry about small pox (which sounds absolutely horrible) and wondered what anyone’s thoughts regarding the claim that small pox has been totally eradicated thanks to the vaccine. What parallels do the eradication of small pox have to the VPDs today?

[KLM99]

I'm about to start the sticky in the smallpox forum, by the way, to get additional information!

[carriebft]

I am an avid reader of books on the monarchs of the 17th and 18th centuries. I just finished another book on Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scotts. Elizabeth survived a bought of small pox...also, do you notice all the times they go through blood letting? ewwwww

[Scattershoot]

During the last considerable epidemic at the turn of the century, I was a member of the Health Committee of London Borough Council, and I learned how the credit of vaccination is kept up statistically by diagnosing all the revaccinated cases [of smallpox] as pustular eczema, varioloid or what not -- except smallpox.

- G Bernard Shaw.

The smallpox vaccine, along with the polio vaccine, are the two main vaccines that are brought up when people want to discuss the success of vaccination. The stories behind these two vaccines are also the most controversial IMO.

There was a huge anti-vaccination movement in the 19th century. You can find information regarding it in larger libraries and some internet sites. One of the reasons for the anti-vaccination movement was the correlation between increased vaccination rates and increases in smallpox deaths in many instances.

Look no further than any refugee camp that has no running water, no clean drinking water, little nutritional offerings and no toilets to flush to see how quickly all the vaccines in the world don't stop the spread of disease.

I'd like to add that even today, the smallpox vaccine is regarded as highly reactive. That's why almost all the doctors and nurses ran away from it a few years ago. That smallpox vaccine campaign completely fell apart.

[tayndrewsmama]

Originally Posted by Scattershoot

Look no further than any refugee camp that has no running water, no clean drinking water, little nutritional offerings and no toilets to flush to see how quickly all the vaccines in the world don't stop the spread of disease.

Wow. I think this is the best short summation I have ever read regarding vaccination! May I quote you on this? I love it!

[mamakay]

This article is a really interesting read, and a great jumping off point for learning about smallpox, imo.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pag...57&pageindex=1

[Marnica]

I think that smallpox would have died out anyway. Most of mainstream literature credits Edward Jenner with inventing the smallpox vaccine which led to the eradication of smallpox. If ones delves into the hisotry of smallpox and Jenner himself (beyond mainstream literature), you will find that the eradication of smallpox was not what it appeared to be. Jenner IMO was a fraud and his smallpox vaccine killed thousand of people and his "science" was not scientific at all. Jenners theory was that this cow-pox is smallpox of the cow. Therefore, if you give a person cow-pox, it is the same as smallpox, only in a very mild form. And it would not be infectious. These are two totally different diseases. cowpox is caused by a virus called Orthopox vaccinia and smallpox is caused by a virus called Orthopox variola. These two viruses have different sizes, genetic sequences, and characteristics. Jenner tested his hypothesis on 1 patient an 8 yr old boy James Phipps (who died at the age of 20) and then immediately claimed that he had "immunized" the patient against smallpox for life. Jenner also claimed that the vaccine would work in eveyone. No controlled clinical trials, no years of research, just that 1 patient. That's it!
Jenner was not even a doctor. According to Hume and Hadwen Jenner purchased his medical degree for £15 from St Andrew's College in Scotland, which he never attended.

I recommend that you read the writings of Walter Hadwen, MD from the 1920's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Hadwen
http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201...nmagazine.html
http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201...rallytalk.html

Also the writings of E. Douglass Hume:

Pasteur or Beauchamp?*, E. Douglas Hume (C.W. Daniel Co. 1923, Reprint 1989, Health Research

Also AR Wallace who wrote and spoke out against compulsory vaccination in the late 1800's http://www.*********/vaccine/wallace/book.html
http://www.*********/vaccine/wallace/1.html

One cannot help but look at the numbers either:
A compulsory "immunization" program was set up in England in 1853 using Jenner's methods. Before that time, the highest number of deaths in a 2 year period in England from smallpox was about 2000. Results of this "immunization":
year ------ deaths
1857-9 --- 14,244
1863-5 --- 20,059
In response, in 1867 Parliament enacted a stricter vaccination law, and 97% of the people were inoculated. Result:
year ------- deaths
1868 -------- 44,840
(McBean, E The Poisoned Needle Health Research, Mokelumne Hill 1993.)

Its all fascinating reading if you have about a week to read and digest it all

[Scattershoot]

Originally Posted by mamakay

This article is a really interesting read, and a great jumping off point for learning about smallpox, imo.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pag...57&pageindex=1

I agree. The Leicester Method is a great place to start.

[Sileree]

Originally Posted by Scattershoot

Look no further than any refugee camp that has no running water, no clean drinking water, little nutritional offerings and no toilets to flush to see how quickly all the vaccines in the world don't stop the spread of disease.

That's very true. Same with the diphtheria vaccine.