DR. EDWARD JENNER---THE INVENTOR OF VACCINATIONS AND VACCINES

Over 200 years ago a young English doctor discovered that you could treat diseases by exposing sufferers to the disease itself. What a bizarre, wonderful concept, and yet millions upon millions lived to have full lives later just because of him.
One day, while helping a doctor he was apprenticed to, an interesting thing happened that would help set Edward on his path. He overheard a girl say that she could not get the dreaded Smallpox disease because she had already had another disease known as Cowpox.
Smallpox disease was rampant during most of the eighteenth century. It was a highly contagious disease. Its victims had symptoms similar to the flu. However, with Small pox, the victim would develop a rash of odorous, pus-filled blisters all over their body. The blisters would then turn into crusty scabs. Eventually, if the victim lived, the scabs would fall off, and leave their victim's body scarred. This disease also led to blindness, pneumonia, and commonly, death. Cowpox, on the other hand, was a disease that infected the teats of cows and the hands of the milkers. It was not deadly, though. It caused sores and fevers, and other uncomfortable symptoms, but its victims got over the illness in no time.
Jenner researched and experimented with the Cowpox disease for several years. He found out there were actually two forms of the disease, but only one form could possibly provide a human body with an immunity to Smallpox.
Dr. Jenner decided it was time to test his vaccination, and he tested it on his gardener's son, an eight-year-old boy named James Phipps. (He got the term "vacca" from the Latin word for "cow.") The boy did contract Cowpox, but he recovered from it within a few days. The doctor then waited eight weeks for the boy's body to build an immunity. To complete his experiment, Dr. Jenner exposed James to Small Pox. Amazingly, the boy did not contract the deadly disease, and the doctor claimed success.

Centuries later, in the 20th centur Small Pox, the great killer was finally declared eradicated. The years also have brought tremendous research efforts as well in other disease vaccinations. His wonderful discoveries in immunology and the prevention of disease is today applied to many new areas and his effect continues around the world. It is hoped that the great scourge of our time, AIDS, will someday be eradicated in this manner.