THE STORY OF SMALLPOX

HISTORY OF SMALLPOX

• As early as 10,000 BC• Found on Egyptian mummies• During the 1700’s around half a million

European people died each year• In the 1900’s smallpox killed 300-500 million

people

EARLY TREATMENTS AT SMALLPOX

• In the 6th century BC, the Chinese practiced a form of treatment called variolation.

• They took smallpox scabs• Ground up the scabs• And inhaled the power

HOW DID IT WORK?

• GUESS

How did it work..

• Sometimes it gave the patients smallpox• Sometimes it did not work and patients got

smallpox later• Sometimes it worked and people were

protected against smallpox for life• Explanation…..

Europe

• Europeans had a different way to practice variolation

• They scraped patient’s arms and placed smallpox pus into the patient’s arms

How did It work?

• Explanation…..

cowpox

Towards a smallpox vaccine

• People began to notice that dairy maids who got cowpox, lived and worked around people with smallpox, but the dairy maids did not get smallpox

Edward Jenner

Edward Jenner

• Needed a subject to test his hypothesis that cowpox protected against smallpox.

• So he “volunteered” his gardner’s son – James Phipps

Steps taken:

• Scratch arm• Add cowpox pus • Phipps had a mild case of cowpox• Two weeks later Phipps was given a large dose

of smallpox pus by Jenner• Phipps never got smallpox and was therefore

protected

Why did Jenner’s vaccine work?

Vaccine

• The term used to give a patient a mimic or fake disease in order to prevent them from getting the real disease is called a vaccine – in honor of Jenner ( vacca – cow)

Smallpox reaction

• Jenner, after his vaccine in 1796 found• A. fame• B. fortune• C. fame and fortune• D. neither fame nor fortune

Eradication of smallpox

• The annual cost of the smallpox campaign between 1967-1979 was US $23 million.

• Was this a worthwhile use of taxpayer money?• discuss

• The US saves the total of all its contributions every 26 days because it does not have to vaccinate or treat the disease.

Modern Vaccines

• Modern vaccines are made from killed bacteria or inactivated viruses

• Or they are weaked• Or they are pieces of part of the whole germ• Or they are mimics of the poisons bacteria

create

Viral diseases

• Prevented with vaccines• Cannot be treated with antibiotics

polio

polio

polio

• Work of Jonas Salk• Began working on a vaccine for polio in 1942.• Guess when the vaccine was ready for testing?

polio

• 1954 – approved for testing – how Salk “jumped the gun”

• 1955 – approved for public use

Polio today

Bacterial diseases

• Strep throat – caused by Streptococcus pyogenes

Strep throat

• The strep bacteria produce a poison that makes the capillaries swell open- causing blood to rush under the skin – called

• SCARLET FEVER

Strep throat

• The patient makes antibodies against the strep poison.

• The antibodies also bind with heart and kidney tissue and damage the heart and kidneys.

Strep throat

• The reason why doctors check for strep, is because it would be better to attach the infection with antibiotics not antibodies.

• SOMETIMES MEDICINES ARE BETTER THAN LETTING NATURE TAKE ITS COURSE

• That way the patient does not make an army of antibodies that could damage the heart and kidneys.

BOTULISM

CHOLERA

SYPHILIS

GONORRHEA

PRIONS

• Are infectious particles made of protein only• THEY HAVE NO GENES – SO HOW DO THEY

SPREAD???

HOW PRIONS SPREAD

• Prions are deformed proteins that cause the proteins in the brain to deform

• It would be like if everyone you bumped into would turn into you, and those people would bump into other turning them into you –soon there would be a whole lot of you

Prion diseases

• BSE – Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy – also known as mad cow disease

• Kuru