Smallpox erradication

[emma1325]

Can we discuss this?

What do you know about it...I know the mainstream message: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox...ionhistory.pdf

I'd love to hear some criticisms of the above link and the general belief that vaccines single-handedly erradicated smallpox.

[miriam]

It was better sanitation that rid us of smallpox.

Think about it.

Missionaries would go into a village, burn the bedding, clean the clothes, clean the eating utensils, cut hair, clean nails, bathe, wash everything down, get clean water lines established, improve nutrition, teach a the ways of staying clean and then at the very end of this process, all of the people are lined up and artificially immunized.

So what one procedure got all of the credit for the healthful condition that took place after everything was in place?


Small pox inoculations have been around for centuries; the Chinese used it, the Turks used it, but it was not until the 20th century and our better sanitation that seemed to conquer smallpox finally, not the inoculations. JMHO.

[Deborah]

Very interesting set of slides, actually.

And ultimately the addition of thorough surveillance for cases coupled with isolation and targeted vaccination to bring about the ultimate eradication of the disease
Page 5

Variations on this statement occur about 20 times. It is clear that mass vaccination would never have done it. It is also clear that they are not considering, at all, the effects of rising quality of life in reducing the circulation of this disease in advanced countries.

It is quite possible, that without vaccination, an intelligent understanding of how the disease spreads might have developed sooner. As it was, vaccination may have been substituted for smart management.

The most interesting case study is what happened in Leicester, England. The anti-vaxers took over the town and basically made vaccination a matter of free choice. They also instituted a few smart procedures:

1) Smallpox cases all went to a good hospital where they got excellent care. The death rate was about 5% as compared to other areas in the U.K. which had death rates of 30% and up.

2) Effective quarantine of the contacts of all cases. The town paid people who had been exposed not to work until they either got sick, or it became clear that they were not going to get sick.

So Leicester developed containment 60 years before it became a common practice. They had few outbreaks of smallpox and managed to contain them all--no epidemics. They also avoided all the nasty side effects of the vaccines.

There is one other really huge mystery about smallpox vaccination. It is the only disease where they vaccinate with something which is totally unrelated to the disease. Vaccinia isn't smallpox. I believe it isn't even related to smallpox. Why in the world would it provide immunity to smallpox? I'm not saying it doesn't, I just find it incomprehensible that it would work.

Oh, and one other piece of info:

1. Fortschr Med. 1977 Jan 13;95(2):79-84.


There have been few changes in the preparation of smallpox vaccine since Eduard Jenner described his method of preventive inoculation in 1798. ... The only major achievement in production methods was the introduction of an animal host for virus propagation. The skin of living calves or sheep was inoculated with seed virus and the "pulp" harvested three to four days later. The disadvantages of this procedure are evident: massive bacterial contamination in spite of rigorous cleanliness and excessive amounts of undesired tissue debris in the crude material to be used for vaccine production.

PMID: 13033 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Had to leave out the second part of the abstract due to lack of space

[Marnica]

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...light=smallpox

here is a old thread about it.....I posted alot of info/links there