Even though the US was declared smallpox-free in 1952, a global effort from 1967 until 1977 worked to inoculate all. I am one of the last generation with a big quarter-sized smallpox vaccination scar on my upper arm. Over time, because of groundwork by many, the vaccines for smallpox were modernized and eventually not needed. I am so grateful to have been raised in the 1970’s and not the 1770’s, where dangerous cowpox and smallpox treatments were the norm. Healthy soldiers were key in winning the long war. Although this practice was not without risk, it was one way many cultures tried to beat the disease.
#WHO TELLS YOUR STORY SKIN#
The soldiers of George Washington’s ranks were some of these recipients of the skin inoculation of cowpox, called variolation, which was carried out in order to reduce infection susceptibility to smallpox. A practice of exposing people to cowpox (a virus related to human smallpox) started in China as far back as the 1500’s, before they even knew it was a virus. The formidable Trenton Barracks, which exchanged hands several times over the years, was also used as an infirmary for an inoculation of cowpox to infer greater immunity against smallpox. But did you know that during American Revolutionary times, Washington’s army was helping in the smallpox fight? Just over the Delaware River, on the way to Hamilton, N.J., you can visit a major historic site, the Trenton Barracks, an important pre-Revolutionary fort where George Washington led his troops quietly across the cold icy Delaware River on Christmas Day 1776 to wage a sneak attack on the sleeping Hessian consignment of German soldiers. Even the mummified remains of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses, who lived around 1145 BC, had smallpox pustule scar marks on his face.Ģ020 is a historic year for sure, and the race is certainly on to find a vaccine for SARS-COV-2 and end the global pandemic. In the 20 th century alone 300 million died from smallpox.
Highly lethal, it took at least 30% of those infected. If it didn’t kill you it left vicious, visible scars.
Smallpox, spread by the expanse of civilization along travel and trade routes, was a terrible disease. They were ALSO fighting a global pandemic-smallpox. In the smash hit Broadway Musical “Hamilton”, parts of which we must have replayed 50 times this summer, Alexander Hamilton always asks the question: “Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?” He was referring to the American Revolution, of course, but America was not just fighting the British. The fight against smallpox has been woven throughout history
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