Talk:Balmis Expedition
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[edit] innoculation vs. vaccination
Lady Mary Wortley Montague, who had survived smallpox, brought the process of innoculation back from the Ottoman Empire in about 1718. Innoculation involved taking pus from a recovering smallpox victim and scratching it into the skin of a healthy person, who would then have a milder case of the disease. This process was slow to be accepted, but was in fairly wide use across Europe in 1800.
Edward Jenner reported, in 1796, that infection with a related but much milder disease, cowpox, would entirely prevent smallpox. This process, which he called vaccination (from 'cow') caught on a bit more rapidly but was now widely popular, even in England, by 1800.
That Dr. Balmis carried a significant number of orphan boys on an expedition in 1804 suggests that he was innoculating them in series rather than vaccinating.
Jojo-acapulco 16:03, 27 June 2007 (UTC)
No, it was really the vaccine (cowpox) that was transported. Dr. Balmis had the problem of keeping the virus alive during the long crossing of the ocean; he solved it by innoculating some orphans with cowpox, and then having them pass it to other orphans as the voyaged progressed. Innoculation was already known (and used) in the Americas before the expedition. 213.4.112.58 (talk) 11:38, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
