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Older generation with that scar

post #1 of 49
4/4/09 at 5:40pm
Thread Starter 
does anyone know what vaxes were in that shot? Most people I know who are in their 50's have a round scar on their upper left arm. My mom said it was from when she got her "shots". What did the dosc do to leave such a scar?
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post #2 of 49
4/4/09 at 5:59pm
Smallpox.
post #3 of 49
4/4/09 at 6:56pm
Thread Starter 
OK..but what happened that it left a scar like that? This should probably be in vaccinations.
post #4 of 49
4/4/09 at 7:07pm
they scraped the skin to apply the vaccine, and it left a minipox, which scarred. google can provide pictures and info.
post #5 of 49
4/4/09 at 7:15pm
Quote:
they scraped the skin to apply the vaccine, and it left a minipox, which scarred. google can provide pictures and info.
We were trying to watch John Adams (HBO Mini Series) and there was a scene in it where Abigail was having herself and the children inoculated with it. It made me want to :Puke

Seriously, why would anyone ever think it was a good idea to scrape a deadly disease off someone else and put it right into your own blood stream? Blech.
post #6 of 49
4/4/09 at 7:18pm
Thread Starter 
OH GOSH! Gross! How horrible!!!
post #7 of 49
4/4/09 at 7:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fruitfulmomma View Post
We were trying to watch John Adams (HBO Mini Series) and there was a scene in it where Abigail was having herself and the children inoculated with it. It made me want to :Puke

Seriously, why would anyone ever think it was a good idea to scrape a deadly disease off someone else and put it right into your own blood stream? Blech.
I'm guessing back then with no plumbing, little bathing and not good hygiene for preventing germs from spreading and killing families, and having small pox being a deadly disease with no cure or treatment - having someone else's disease put into your bloodstream to possibly prevent that probably seemed like a good idea.
post #8 of 49
4/4/09 at 7:22pm
Wow, I'm feeling so old. Those scars are on people younger than their 50's too. What I remember from the Stone Ages was getting a vax in school which caused my scar. I felt like it was several short needles which was activated by a trigger, kinda like a gun. I remember it hurt, and I remember the sound of the trigger.
post #9 of 49
4/4/09 at 7:37pm
BCG vaccination also leaves a pretty large scar, not as big as smallpox.
post #10 of 49
4/4/09 at 7:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1ColoradoMomma View Post
Wow, I'm feeling so old. Those scars are on people younger than their 50's too. What I remember from the Stone Ages was getting a vax in school which caused my scar. I felt like it was several short needles which was activated by a trigger, kinda like a gun. I remember it hurt, and I remember the sound of the trigger.
I was just going to say that, I didn't get it but only missed it by a few years.
post #11 of 49
4/4/09 at 10:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1ColoradoMomma View Post
Wow, I'm feeling so old. Those scars are on people younger than their 50's too. What I remember from the Stone Ages was getting a vax in school which caused my scar. I felt like it was several short needles which was activated by a trigger, kinda like a gun. I remember it hurt, and I remember the sound of the trigger.
You are bringing back a nasty memory for me - this is *exactly* how it was for me. It hurt like a big dog. In my early 40's here... and I think I got it just before they stopped (my bad timing as usual). My scar is about 1/2" diameter - it's pretty obvious. Wish my mom knew better back then, but I guess I can't blame her for not knowing.

Funny thing - before I opened this thread, I knew exactly what the title was referring to ("that scar"). It was from the smallpox vaccine.
post #12 of 49
4/4/09 at 10:14pm
My husband has a very obvious scar. He's 40, but his was given when he joined the Navy at 18.
post #13 of 49
4/4/09 at 10:20pm
It's kinda how we treat chicken pox now, though...exposing it to our kids on purpose to increase their immunity so it won't kill them later. I was in elementary school when the vaccine came out, but I'm so glad I never got it. I just had chicken pox and got over it. I know the smallpox one isn't that simple, though.

It was the people who had cowpox that didn't get smallpox...maybe we should just let people get the non-deadly cowpox? I don't now. I don't know too much about the issue, only that lots of problems have recently presented themselves.

Does anyone have any good articles that I could read? My dad insists all of you are nutjobs - lol - but I've got an open mind (and heart!).
post #14 of 49
4/4/09 at 10:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fek&fuzz View Post
I'm guessing back then with no plumbing, little bathing and not good hygiene for preventing germs from spreading and killing families, and having small pox being a deadly disease with no cure or treatment - having someone else's disease put into your bloodstream to possibly prevent that probably seemed like a good idea.
IIRC, the original smallpox innoculations weren't smallpox, but cowpox (a less dangerous disease that conferred immunity to smallpox).

It was a major medical breakthrough at the time, and saved a lot of lives.
post #15 of 49
4/4/09 at 10:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MeepyCat View Post
IIRC, the original smallpox innoculations weren't smallpox, but cowpox (a less dangerous disease that conferred immunity to smallpox).

It was a major medical breakthrough at the time, and saved a lot of lives.

That's what I was thinking, thank you!
post #16 of 49
4/4/09 at 10:27pm
Quote:
IIRC, the original smallpox innoculations weren't smallpox, but cowpox (a less dangerous disease that conferred immunity to smallpox).
Okay, well in the movie they were showing the doctor (or whomever) pulling pox off a near-dead looking person in the back of his wagon.

Edited to add... According to wikipedia the cowpox was not used until 1796, so that was 20 years or so after the scene I am talking about which would have taken place around 1776 or so.
post #17 of 49
4/4/09 at 10:34pm
I am going to guess they are taking creative license in the mini-series. Smallpozvaccine was derived from cowpox. Why people didn't just putposely contract cowpox...I son't know. BUt it was a medical breakthrough for a disease that had 50% mortality and left those that survived horribly disfigured (if I am remember correctly and my history lesson was correct)

I also missed the wagon and do not have a smallpox innoculation scar (I am 37). My sister 8 years older does...not sure about my sister who is 4 years older (I think she has one). DH who just turned 40 this year does not.
post #18 of 49
4/4/09 at 10:43pm
Thread Starter 
BCG-yes, my mom's looks like a bunch of small needles in a deep circle shaped scar. What does BCG stand for?
post #19 of 49
4/4/09 at 10:45pm
Quote:
I am going to guess they are taking creative license in the mini-series.
Perhaps, but they had actually been using smallpox as an inoculate for close to a thousand years prior to this according to a couple of different sources. Anyway, that is totally OT to the OP's post so I'll leave it for a discussion another day.
post #20 of 49
4/5/09 at 2:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by PinkinPA View Post
BCG-yes, my mom's looks like a bunch of small needles in a deep circle shaped scar. What does BCG stand for?
Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG)
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