Moroz Ivanovich Odoevsky dictionary with unknown words. Some interesting materials

Discovery of the smallpox vaccine

Vaccinations against smallpox create reliable immunity (immunity). A vaccinated person is not at risk from smallpox. Humanity is armed in the fight against smallpox with a reliable vaccine weapon. This discovery immortalized the name of the English doctor E. Jenner. His words were prophetic: “It is revealed with indisputable clarity that the eradication of smallpox, the most terrible scourge of mankind, will be the final consequence of vaccinations.” This ingenious method of combating smallpox appeared only in late XVIII V. It is interesting that vaccinations against a terrible epidemic disease were created after remarkable popular observations. It turned out that cows also get smallpox, and that a person, having become infected with cowpox, becomes immune to smallpox. Since cowpox caused lesions on the udder, milkmaids were more often infected, in whom smallpox blisters usually developed on the hands. The people knew well that cowpox is not dangerous to humans: it leaves only light traces of former individual smallpox blisters on the skin of the hands. The most important thing was that such people did not suffer from smallpox. The young English doctor E. Jenner was greatly impressed by the words of one peasant woman who told him that she could not get smallpox because she had cowpox. E. Jenner decided to check the people's observation.

He wondered if it was possible to deliberately induce cowpox in order to protect against smallpox? This observation continued for twenty-five long years.

With great patience and exceptional conscientiousness, the doctor assessed and studied each case. What could he say when he saw smallpox blisters on the milkmaids’ hands? Of course, this proved that a person can become infected with cowpox, and Jenner was indeed convinced of this many times.

But the scientist was in no hurry to draw conclusions. He wanted to check whether smallpox spares such people during epidemics? It was important to verify the pattern that, having become infected with cowpox, a person will become immune to smallpox, and this requires not one, not two, but many cases. And Jenner watched patiently. Years and decades passed, and the wonderful work was rewarded.

After 25 years of observation, being confident in the ability to protect humans with cowpox, Jenner decided to vaccinate people with cowpox. In 1796, E. Jenner first vaccinated the boy James Phipps with cowpox. He took the material for vaccination from Sarah Nelm, who was infected with cowpox. The vaccination was successful, but this was not enough; it was also necessary to prove that the vaccinated child would not get sick if he was infected with smallpox. And after painful hesitation, Jenner decides to take this difficult step and infects the child. James Phipps is not ill. Smallpox vaccination had begun.

Many years passed before this remarkable discovery gained recognition and is now being used in a slightly modified form throughout the world. No matter how great the discovery was, for Jenner and his method the beginning of smallpox vaccination turned out to be the beginning of a difficult and thorny path. The scientist had to endure a lot, endure the persecution of false scientists.

It must be said that by that time, in a number of countries, different ways protection against smallpox. For example, dried smallpox crusts were used. They were even sold. This trade flourished and brought big profits to traders. Children were specially sent to buy such crusts. They had to carry them home, holding them tightly in their hands. It was like an inoculation into the skin. “Buying smallpox” was even accompanied by a kind of ritual. A child, for example, was brought to a sick person, and while giving the patient money, he had to say: “I’m buying smallpox from you.” The crusts were stuck into the nose or mouth. Other methods have been used in a number of countries. Smallpox crusts were ground into powder, which was rubbed into the skin or blown into the nose. Injections were made into the skin with needles soaked in pus from smallpox blisters.

In India, a piece of cloth soaked in the pus of smallpox patients was placed on the skin, or the pus was rubbed into the skin of healthy people. These methods of smallpox vaccination were considered a sacred operation by the Brahmins. Among the peoples of Africa, a thread moistened with smallpox pus was pulled through the skin with a needle.

In Russia there were traditional methods protection against smallpox by rubbing the contents of smallpox into the skin or nose, as well as incantations. They also resorted to the following methods: “when buying smallpox,” they soaked money in smallpox pus and put it in their bosom.

It was a custom among many peoples to buy “infection,” that is, crusts or pus, from those who were easily ill with smallpox and rub it into their skin.

However, all this was far from safe both for those who were subjected to such “vaccinations” (they often got smallpox) and for those who became infected from them. Many people fell ill and died, spreading a severe epidemic disease. Others actually carried smallpox to mild form and at such a price they acquired immunity. Everything depended on the degree to which the smallpox pathogen lost the power of its pathogenicity in the dried crust. How can we determine this? No one knew this, just as they knew nothing about the pathogen itself.

When did the wonderful and safe method E. Jenner, he had to endure a struggle, primarily with those who sold the crusts, because they were losing a lot of income.

Unfortunately, many contemporary scientists did not understand Jenner’s method. Thus, the Royal Society of London returned to Jenner the work he had written, “An Investigation into the Causes and Effects of Cowpox,” with a warning “not to compromise your scientific reputation with such articles.” And Jenner had to print a brochure at his own expense, which outlined the experience of 25 years of observations.

Cowpox vaccinations were also met with indignation by the clergy in many countries, including Jenner’s homeland in England.

Among European scientists of the 19th century. There were also opponents of smallpox vaccination. For example, the Prague professor I. Gamernik, to whom in 1856 the English government approached with a proposal to express his opinion on the introduction of compulsory smallpox vaccination, rejected vaccination against smallpox. Moreover, giving a speech at the Sejm of the Czech Kingdom, he fiercely took up arms against vaccination.

In such a huge country as Russia, smallpox vaccination, as reported in the “History of Epidemics in Russia,” was transferred to the hands of ignorant “smallpox workers” - people who often had vague ideas about the essence of vaccination and were obliged to carry out smallpox vaccination for a meager fee. At first they had to take a simple exam to obtain a certificate, but then they forgot about it, and the conductors of this sanitary measure turned out to be people who were very far from medicine. No one supervised the smallpox vaccination.

Years passed. Gradually, many countries became convinced that Jenner had proposed a safe way to use cowpox against human smallpox. The organization of smallpox vaccination has improved. But there were also disadvantages to this method. For vaccination, the so-called “humanized lymph” was taken, i.e., the contents of smallpox vesicles of a person infected with cowpox. Vaccinations were carried out hand to hand from one vaccinated child to another. This was weak side and the inconvenience of the Jenner method. There was also some danger of infecting those vaccinated with skin diseases.

Currently, smallpox vaccine is produced on a large scale in institutes and laboratories. Healthy calves (even of a certain color) are selected and become infected with smallpox. Before infection, the hair on the sides and belly of calves is shaved, the skin is thoroughly washed and disinfected. A few days after infection, when the smallpox blisters have matured and a huge amount of smallpox virus has accumulated in them, in compliance with all sanitary and hygienic rules, they collect material containing a weakened and harmless pathogen for humans - the cowpox virus. After special processing, vaccines are released for smallpox vaccination in the form of an opaque syrupy liquid.

The origin of the word “vaccine” is now clear. In Latin, “vacca” means cow, although many vaccines against various diseases are obtained in other ways.

Jenner's discovery, which won recognition all over the world, was the beginning of the victorious march of vaccination against many other infections. Jenner's discovery also became the true source of immunology - the doctrine of immunity, the scientific foundations of which were later laid by Pasteur, I. I. Mechnikov and a number of generations of microbiologists and immunologists. We will talk about their names and outstanding achievements in the chapter on the development of immunology.

About 100 years have passed since Jenner's discovery. Immunology has been enriched with new great discoveries. L. Pasteur creates vaccines against chicken cholera, anthrax and rabies. They allowed humanity to successfully fight serious diseases not only of people, but also of large and small livestock, horses and other animals.

The name “vaccine” was introduced into science L. Pasteur in honor of Jenner's method. Pasteur used this word to describe all the drugs used to inoculate against infectious diseases. Pasteur said: “I give the word “vaccine” more broad meaning in the hope that science will leave it as an expression of gratitude to Jenner’s merits.”

The requirements for the vaccine are high. Drugs can be released for practical use only after a strict control system has been established. To maintain the quality of the vaccine, it should be stored in a cool, dry place at a temperature of 5–6 °C above zero.

The great merit of the Soviet scientist M. A. Morozov is the development of a method for obtaining a dry vaccine against smallpox. The dry vaccine is more stable and has a longer shelf life than the liquid one - up to 1 year. It's big scientific achievement turned out to be very important for practice: the scale of smallpox vaccination in our country is enormous - from the Arctic to the subtropics of the Black Sea coast. Smallpox vaccination must be carried out with a high-quality drug. The dry vaccine better meets the high requirements that are placed on it.

Scientists continue to find new methods for producing a smallpox vaccine. For this purpose, in addition to calves, other animals are used, such as sheep, rabbits, and the vaccinia virus is also grown outside the body - in tissue cultures. A new dry vaccine is currently known. It is obtained by infecting chicken embryos with the vaccinia virus, in which the virus multiplies and accumulates in large quantities.

Our country has not only eliminated this terrible disease in our country, but is helping many other nations in this important struggle for humanity. CEO World Health Organization Dr. Kandau at the XI World Assembly emphasized the great role Soviet Union in organizing the fight against smallpox, which the USSR provides to India, Afghanistan, Burma and other countries.

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First preventative vaccinations

May 14, 1796 - important milestone in the fight against a terrible and previously widespread disease - smallpox. On this day, Edward Jenner successfully experimented with cowpox inoculation in humans.

Father of vaccination

The English country doctor encountered smallpox all the time. During the 18th century. in Europe, 60 million people died in agony from this infection. The fact that smallpox has been completely eradicated today is due to Jenner’s observation. He noticed that milkmaids who were constantly infected with cowpox, which was not dangerous to humans, either did not get smallpox at all, or suffered from it in a mild form. In 1798, Jenner injected an eight-year-old boy with a vaccine from a liquid taken from the pustule of a milkmaid infected with cowpox. After some time, he infected the boy with real smallpox - the child did not get sick.

But another 80 years passed until the mystery of active preventive vaccinations was solved. medical explanation and the opportunity arose...

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The flu epidemic in Russia and the outbreak of Zika fever in America (this disease has already been compared to Ebola) again forced doctors to talk about the importance of vaccinations - the use of vaccines to develop immunity against dangerous diseases. But even now it is impossible to hide that the path to new vaccines is riddled with coincidences and adjustments human weaknesses and passions. This is happening now, this is how it happened before - Lenta.ru recalls little-known and scandalous episodes from the history of vaccination.

Harem secrets

Humanity's journey to vaccinations began with smallpox. This disease has haunted people for many millennia - it was already in ancient Egypt and China. Smallpox causes fever, vomiting, and bone pain. The whole body is covered in a rash. Almost a third of patients die, and survivors are left with scars on the skin (pockmarks) for life. IN medieval Europe The incidence of smallpox became widespread.

However, even in ancient times they noticed: those who have had smallpox no longer catch it (or, at least, it...

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Who invented Vaccination - When was it invented?

We now know about smallpox, a terrible disease that once destroyed entire villages and even cities, only from books. Nowadays, they don’t even vaccinate against smallpox, and its virus, like a dangerous criminal, is kept under reliable protection in only two places on the entire planet in specially equipped laboratories in Russia and the USA. And it is quite possible that in 2014 it will be destroyed forever. But not so long ago, surviving a smallpox outbreak was tantamount to a miracle, and those who suffered the disease and those who survived it could always be recognized by the ugly marks on their face and body. Today, smallpox has been defeated, but the history of the fight against it and other deadly diseases is similar to war chronicles: numerous losses, terrible risks, brave heroes and difficult victories...

A patient with smallpox.

L. Boilly. Vaccination. 1827

Humanity has been familiar with the deadly attacks of smallpox, a highly contagious viral infection, since ancient times. In surviving written documents...

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Flaxseed o spa (lat. Variola, Variola vera) is a highly contagious (contagious) viral infection that only affects humans. It is caused by two types of viruses: Variola major (mortality rate 20-40%, according to some data - up to 90%) and Variola minor (mortality rate 1-3%). People who survive smallpox may lose some or all of their vision, and almost always have numerous scars on the skin where the former ulcers were.

In Russia, vaccination (with an early, unsafe vaccine) was carried out after the death of 15-year-old Emperor Peter II from smallpox. The first to be vaccinated against smallpox were Catherine II the Great, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna, and a few days later Catherine’s grandchildren Alexander and Konstantin Pavlovich. The peasant boy Markov, from whom the empress was vaccinated with smallpox, was given nobility, the surname Ospenny and a coat of arms. At the end of the 18th century, the English physician Edward Jenner invented a safe vaccination against smallpox based on the cowpox virus, which was vaccinated in...

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Development of vaccine prevention

On March 24, 1882, when Robert Koch announced that he had isolated the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, the scientist achieved the greatest triumph of his entire life.

Why is the discovery of the causative agent of tuberculosis called a scientific feat?

The fact is that the causative agents of tuberculosis are an extremely difficult object to study. In the first microscopy preparations made by Koch from the lung tissue of a young worker who died of fulminant consumption, not a single microbe could be detected. Without losing hope, the scientist stained the preparations using his own method and for the first time saw under a microscope the elusive causative agent of tuberculosis.

At the next stage, it was necessary to obtain the notorious microbacteria in pure culture. A few years ago, Koch found a way to cultivate microbes not only in experimental animals, but also in an artificial environment, for example, on a cut of boiled potato or in meat broth. He tried this...

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Smallpox was first diagnosed more than 3,000 years ago in Ancient India and Egypt. Long time this disease was one of the most terrible and merciless. Numerous epidemics covering entire continents claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. History shows that in XVIII century Europe lost 25% of its adult population and 55% of its children every year. It was only at the end of the 20th century that the World Health Organization officially recognized the complete eradication of smallpox in developed countries peace.

Invention of the vaccine

Victory over this, as well as a number of other equally deadly diseases, became possible thanks to the invention of the vaccination method. The vaccine was first created by the English doctor Edward Jenner. The idea of vaccinating against the causative agent of cowpox came to the young doctor during a conversation with a milkmaid, whose hands were covered with a characteristic rash. When asked if the peasant woman was sick, she answered in the negative, confirming that she had already suffered from cowpox earlier. Then...

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Who invented the vaccine? The inventor of the first vaccine is believed to be the English physician Edward Jenner (1749-1823). However, in historical chronicles there are references that vaccination (inoculation of certain substances in order to develop immunity in the body against a disease) was already used in ancient times in China, India and Persia.

Thus, Jenner became the pioneer of modern immunology - he is credited with creating the smallpox vaccine. While practicing medicine in provincial English Gloucestershire, Jenner noticed in 1796 that milkmaids who had cowpox did not develop the usual, more severe form of smallpox (at that time, epidemics of this disease often caused mass deaths). To make sure his assumption was correct, Jenner inoculated eight-year-old schoolboy James Phipps with cowpox, taking a smallpox culture from the hands of milkmaid Sarah Nelms. The boy suffered from a mild form of smallpox, typical of milkmaids, and several...

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Russian Federation

Administration of the city of Megion

invention of vaccines.

Vaccination problems.

Completed:

Mikushin Maxim,

student of 9th grade.

Supervisor:

biology teacher.

Megion - 2009

1. Abstract

In ancient times, man constantly fought for his life, winning it from hunger, cold and disease. But if hunting could save from hunger, or a skin or a fire from the cold, then people did not know how to fight diseases. All failures were explained by the influence of supernatural forces or God's punishment for sins committed. It was then that medicine began to emerge. It took thousands of years of observations, centuries of accumulation of experience, a huge amount...

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Jenner's invention of smallpox vaccination

Smallpox was widespread. No wonder there was a saying in those days: “Love and smallpox escape only a few.”

Once Jenner had to hear from a woman cow-keeper that she would not get natural (human) smallpox, since she had suffered from the so-called cowpox. These words were etched into Jenner's memory. He was a very observant and conscientious person. And, of course, I couldn’t ignore this fact.

Women who cared for sick cows contracted cowpox. They get sick a little, small pustules remain on their hands, then they dry up, the crusts fall off, and that’s it. And after that they were no longer in mortal danger from smallpox. And wherever the young doctor went, he carefully recorded such cases.

The merit of E. Jenner is that he comprehended all these facts, provided a scientific basis for them and, having decided to secure the vaccination procedure, began to transplant cowpox from one person to...

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Abstract: History of the invention of vaccines

Russian Federation

Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Ugra

Administration of the city of Megion

Municipal educational institution

"Secondary school No. 4."

invention of vaccines.

Vaccination problems.

Completed:

Mikushin Maxim,

student of 9th grade.

Supervisor:

Reshetilova Galina Gennadievna,

biology teacher.

Megion - 2009

annotation

Theoretical part

History of the invention of vaccines

First experience of smallpox vaccination

Smallpox vaccination in Russia

Louis Pasteur and his discoveries

Fighting tuberculosis

Vaccination or vaccinations

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Smallpox is one of the oldest human diseases. This disease belongs to the category of highly contagious viral infections. The main manifestations of smallpox are severe intoxication of the body and characteristic rashes on the mucous membranes and skin, the changes of which occur strictly cyclically.

Mentions of smallpox are found in scientific treatises dating back to IV- III millennium BC. Smallpox epidemics raged in Asian countries, and later this terrible infection spread to Europe and was especially merciless in Italy and France. The Spanish colonialists, after Columbus's first voyage, brought this terrible disease to America, where entire tribes died out from it.

The mortality rate from smallpox was incredibly high - 40-60% of those infected died. In the 17th century, smallpox took the lives of almost a third of the population of Siberia. One of the Russian emperors, Peter II, died of smallpox.

The history of the smallpox vaccine

It is not surprising that doctors all over the world were developing methods...

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Interview with Dr. Andrew Moulden.

I am of the opinion, based on compelling evidence, that all vaccines should be banned completely. All vaccines cause cerebral ischemia, damage the body, cause health disorders and chronic diseases. Vaccines do not affect the cause of the disease, because it is not associated with infectious pathogens, but with MASS and the electrostatic properties of the bloodstream. They are the ones who require attention, not vaccination against every microorganism on the planet.

Aluminum, mercury, squalene and other contaminants added to vaccines are equal to viruses and bacteria in terms of damage to human tissue. They are foreign substances to human physiology, causing electrostatic and immune reactions. Both reactions interfere with blood flow and can themselves cause tissue damage.

The important thing is that vaccines cause the same sequence of pathological reactions as the “wild” virus...

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PassivDom - autonomous self-learning mobile homes created using 3D printing technology

If, for example, it were possible to rent a guest house for a few hundred dollars, which a crane would put on your property through the fence, guests would come, spend the night, take a shower, live for a couple of days, then leave, the same crane would come and pick it up. In this case, nothing will need to be connected, refueled, poured or removed.

Mobile passive house - wtf?

I have no hope that anyone will read this text in its entirety. Therefore, I will briefly outline everything that is definitely worth knowing about the Ukrainian inventor of the warmest autonomous house in the world, Maxim Herbut.

He studied physics, worked at a factory, and attended the school of life and business in Donbass. He was engaged in the production of windows, learned to do it so well that he supplied them to almost all the presidents of the country. After...

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History of vaccination. Merits of E. Jenner

No other medical science owes humanity the salvation of so many lives as vaccinology. Enormous successes have been achieved by this science in last years. Nowadays, most people are accustomed to the fact that the most severe and dangerous diseases can be prevented with a simple vaccination. But several centuries ago, humanity was almost defenseless against terrible, ferocious epidemics that claimed an untold number of lives. The first tangible successes in the fight against them were achieved by the English doctor and naturalist Edward Jenner.

The history of vaccination begins with this name. Edward Jenner's service to science and society lies in the fact that he invented a way to combat the terrible disease of that time - smallpox. With the help of the smallpox vaccination method he discovered, millions of human lives were saved.

Smallpox (Variola vera) is a particularly dangerous acute viral infection....

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For many centuries, humanity has suffered from such a highly contagious infectious disease as smallpox, which claims tens of thousands of lives every year. This terrible disease was epidemic in nature and affected entire cities and continents. Fortunately, scientists were able to unravel the causes of the symptoms of smallpox, which made it possible to create effective protection against them in the form of smallpox vaccination. Today, the pathology is one of the conquered infections, as was reported back in 1980. This happened thanks to universal vaccination under the auspices of WHO. Such measures made it possible to eradicate the virus and prevent the millions of deaths it caused across the planet, which is why vaccinations are not currently being carried out.

What is smallpox?

Smallpox is one of the oldest infectious diseases of viral origin. The disease is different high level contagiousness and in most cases is fatal or leaves rough scars on the body as a reminder of itself. There are two main pathogens: the more aggressive Variola major and the less pathogenic Variola minor. The mortality rate when infected with the first variant of the virus is as much as 40-80%, while its small form leads to death in only three percent of cases total number sick.

Smallpox is considered a highly contagious disease; it is transmitted by airborne droplets and contact. It is characterized by severe intoxication, as well as the appearance of a rash on the skin and mucous membranes, has a cyclical development and transforms into ulcers. When infected, patients report the following symptoms:

polymorphic rashes throughout the body and mucous membranes, which go through the stages of spots, papules, pustules, crusts and scarring;
a sharp increase in body temperature;
severe signs of intoxication with body aches, nausea, headaches;
In case of recovery, deep scars remain on the skin.

Despite the fact that doctors managed to completely defeat smallpox among the human population back in 1978-1980, Lately Increasingly, there is evidence of cases of the disease in primates. This cannot but cause concern, since the virus can easily spread to humans. Considering that the last vaccination against smallpox was given back in 1979, today we can confidently say about the possibility of the occurrence of new wave epidemics, since those born after 1980 do not have vaccine immunity from smallpox at all. Medical workers continue to raise the question of the advisability of resuming mandatory vaccination against smallpox infection, which will prevent new outbreaks of a deadly disease.

Story

It is believed that smallpox originated several thousand years BC in African continent and in Asia, where it passed to people from camels. The first mention of a smallpox epidemic dates back to the fourth century, when the disease raged in China, and the sixth century, when it killed half of the population of Korea. Three hundred years later, the infection reached the Japanese Islands, where 30% then died out. local residents. In the 8th century, smallpox was recorded in Palestine, Syria, Sicily, Italy and Spain.

Starting in the 15th century, smallpox spread throughout Europe. By general information, every year about a million inhabitants of the Old World died from smallpox. Doctors of that time argued that everyone should get this disease. It would seem that people have come to terms with the smallpox pestilence.

Smallpox in Russia

Until the 17th century, there were no written references to smallpox in Russia, but this is not proof that it did not exist. It is assumed that smallpox raged mainly in the European part of the state and affected the lower strata of society, and therefore was not made public.

The situation changed when, in the middle of the 18th century, the infection spread deep into the country, right up to the Kamchatka Peninsula. At this time she became well known to the nobility. The fear was so great that members of the family of the British monarch George I gave themselves such vaccinations. For example, in 1730, the young Emperor Peter II died of smallpox. Peter III also contracted the infection, but survived, until his death, struggling with the complexes that arose against the background of understanding his ugliness.

First attempts at control and creation of a vaccine

Humanity has tried to fight the infection from the very beginning of its appearance. Often sorcerers and shamans were involved in this, prayers and incantations were read, it was even recommended that the sick be dressed in red clothes, as it was believed that this would help lure the disease out.

First effective way The fight against the disease was the so-called variolation - a primitive vaccination against smallpox. This method quickly spread throughout the world and reached Europe already in the 18th century. Its essence was to take biomaterial from the pustules of people who had successfully recovered from the disease and introduce it under the skin of healthy recipients. Naturally, such a technique did not provide 100% guarantees, but it made it possible to reduce the morbidity and mortality from smallpox several times.

Early fighting methods in Russia

The initiator of vaccinations in Russia was Empress Catherine II herself. She issued a decree on the need for mass vaccination and by example has proven its effectiveness. The first smallpox vaccination in Russian Empire was made back in 1768, specially invited for this by the English doctor Thomas Dimmesdale.

After the empress suffered from mild smallpox, she insisted on variolation own husband and the heir to the throne, Pavel Petrovich. A few years later, Catherine’s grandchildren were also vaccinated, and the doctor Dimmesdale received a lifelong pension and the title of baron.

How did everything develop further?

Rumors quickly spread about the smallpox vaccination that the empress received. And after a few years the vaccination became fashion trend among the Russian nobility. Even those subjects who had already recovered from the infection wanted to be vaccinated, so the process of immunization of the aristocracy at times reached the point of absurdity. Catherine herself was proud of her action and more than once wrote about it to her relatives abroad.

Mass vaccination

Catherine II was so carried away by variolation that she decided to vaccinate the rest of the country's population. This primarily concerned students in cadet corps, soldiers and officers of the imperial army. Naturally, the technique was far from perfect, and often led to the death of vaccinated patients. But, of course, it made it possible to reduce the rate of spread of infection throughout the state and prevented thousands of deaths.

Jenner vaccination

Scientists have constantly improved the vaccination method. At the beginning of the 19th century, variolation was overshadowed by the more advanced technique of the Englishman Jenner. In Russia, the first such vaccination was given to a child from an orphanage; Professor Mukhin administered the vaccine to him in Moscow. After successful vaccination, the boy Anton Petrov was granted a pension and given the surname Vaktsinov.

After this incident, vaccinations began to be administered everywhere, but not on a mandatory basis. Only in 1919 did vaccination become mandatory at the legislative level and involved compiling lists of vaccinated and unvaccinated children in each region of the country. As a result of such measures, the government managed to minimize the number of outbreaks of infection; they were recorded exclusively in remote areas.

It’s hard to believe, but back in the recent years 1959-1960, an outbreak of smallpox was registered in Moscow. It affected about 50 people, three of whom died as a result. What was the source of the disease in a country where it has been successfully fought for decades?

Brought smallpox to Moscow domestic artist Kokorekin from, where he had the honor of being present at the burning of a deceased person. Returning from the trip, he managed to infect his wife and mistress, as well as 9 representatives of the medical staff of the hospital to which he was brought, and 20 more people. Unfortunately, it was not possible to save the artist from death, but subsequently the entire population of the capital had to be vaccinated against the disease.

Vaccination aimed at ridding humanity of infection

Unlike Europe, the population of the Asian part of the continent and Africa did not know about an effective smallpox vaccine until almost the middle of the 20th century. This provoked new infections in backward regions, which, due to the growth of migration flows, threatened the civilized world. For the first time, doctors from the USSR undertook to initiate the mass administration of a vaccine to all people on the planet. Their program was supported at the WHO summit, and the participants adopted a corresponding resolution.

The mass introduction of the vaccine began in 1963, and 14 years later not a single case of smallpox was recorded in the world. Three years later, humanity declared victory over the disease. Vaccination lost its importance and was discontinued. Accordingly, all inhabitants of the planet born after 1980 do not have immunity from infection, which makes them vulnerable to the disease.

May 14, 1796 is an important milestone in the fight against the terrible and previously widespread disease - smallpox. On this day, Edward Jenner successfully experimented with cowpox inoculation in humans.

Father of vaccination

But another 80 years passed until the mystery of active preventive vaccinations received a medical explanation and the possibility of developing new vaccines became possible. Louis Pasteur was the first to understand that infectious diseases are caused by microorganisms and, starting in 1881, developed vaccinations against avian cholera, anthrax and rabies. Around the same time, bacteriologist Robert Koch managed to isolate the causative agents of such highly contagious diseases as cholera, malaria and plague, and thereby pave the way for victory over terrible epidemics.

Active and passive vaccinations

Today, preventive vaccinations mean so-called active immunization, mainly against viral diseases. The vaccine is designed to stimulate defensive reaction body through the formation of antibodies. This is achieved by introducing a weakened pathogen. The body does not get sick, but produces antibodies, as well as so-called memory cells. The latter store information about a harmful virus and, if it appears, instantly give a signal for the production of antibodies. With passive immunization, on the contrary, ready-made antibodies are introduced into the body. This type of vaccination was developed by Emil Adolf von Behring. He injected people with antibodies from infected horses and cows. The search for a vaccine against mad cow disease and AIDS is currently underway all over the world.

1717: Mary Wargley Montagu brought from Constantinople to England a method of grafting tissue taken from people who had recovered from a mild form of smallpox.

1946: American John Franklin Enders developed a vaccine against mumps.

1954: After the causative agent of measles was discovered, a vaccine against this disease was created.

19b9: an effective vaccination made rubella harmless.

Attempts to prevent infectious diseases, in many ways reminiscent of the methodology that was adopted in the 18th century, were made in ancient times. In China, vaccination against smallpox has been known since the 11th century. BC e., and it was carried out by inserting a piece of cloth soaked with the contents of smallpox pustules into the nose of a healthy child. Sometimes dry smallpox crusts were also used. One of the Indian texts of the 5th century spoke of a way to combat smallpox: “Using a surgical knife, take smallpox matter either from the udder of a cow or from the hand of an already infected person, make a puncture between the elbow and shoulder on the other person’s hand until it bleeds, and when pus will enter the body with blood, a fever will appear.”

There were folk ways to combat smallpox in Russia. Since ancient times, in the Kazan province, smallpox scabs were ground into powder, inhaled, and then steamed in a bathhouse. This helped some, and the illness was mild; for others, it all ended very sadly.

Smallpox has not yet been defeated for a long time, and she reaped a rich mournful harvest in the Old World, and then the New. Smallpox claimed millions of lives throughout Europe. Representatives of the reigning houses - Louis XV, Peter II - also suffered from it. And there was no effective way to combat this scourge.

An effective way to combat smallpox was inoculation (artificial infection). In the 18th century it became “fashionable” in Europe. Entire armies, as was the case with George Washington's troops, were subjected to mass inoculation. The first persons of the states demonstrated the effectiveness of this method. In France, in 1774, the year Louis XV died of smallpox, his son Louis XVI was inoculated.

Shortly before, under the impression of previous smallpox epidemics, Empress Catherine II sought the services of an experienced British inoculator, Thomas Dimmesdale. On October 12, 1768, he inoculated the empress and heir to the throne, the future Emperor Paul I. Dimmesdale's inoculation was not the first done in the capital of the empire. Before him, the Scottish doctor Rogerson vaccinated the children of the British consul against smallpox, but this event did not receive any resonance, since it did not receive the attention of the empress. In the case of Dimmesdale, we were talking about the beginning of mass smallpox vaccination in Russia. In memory of this significant event, a silver medal was stamped with the image of Catherine the Great, the inscription “She set an example” and the date significant event. The doctor himself, in gratitude from the empress, received the title of hereditary baron, the title of life physician, the rank of full state councilor and a lifelong annual pension.

After successfully completing an exemplary grafting in St. Petersburg, Dimmesdale returned to his homeland, and in St. Petersburg the work he had begun was continued by his compatriot Thomas Goliday (Holiday). He became the first doctor of the Smallpox (Vaccination) House, where those who wished were vaccinated for free and were given a silver ruble with a portrait of the Empress as a reward. Goliday lived in St. Petersburg for a long time, became rich, bought a house on the English Embankment and received a plot of land on one of the islands of the Neva delta, which, according to legend, was named after him, converted into a more understandable Russian word “Goloday” (now Dekabristov Island).

But long-term and complete protection against smallpox was still not created. Only thanks to the English doctor Edward Jenner and the vaccination method he discovered, smallpox was defeated. Thanks to his powers of observation, Jenner spent several decades collecting information about the incidence of cowpox among milkmaids. An English doctor came to the conclusion that the contents of young immature cowpox pustules, which he called the word “vaccine,” prevent smallpox if it comes into contact with thrush, that is, during inoculation. This led to the conclusion that artificial infection with cowpox was a harmless and humane way to prevent smallpox. In 1796, Jenner conducted a human experiment by vaccinating an eight-year-old boy, James Phipps. Jenner subsequently discovered a way to preserve graft material by drying the contents of smallpox pustules and storing it in glass containers, which made it possible to transport the dry material to various regions.

The first vaccination against smallpox in Russia using his method was given in 1801 by Professor Efrem Osipovich Mukhin to the boy Anton Petrov, who light hand Empress Maria Feodorovna received the surname Vaktsinov.

The vaccination process of that time was significantly different from modern smallpox vaccination. The vaccination material was the contents of the pustules of vaccinated children, a “humanized” vaccine, as a result of which there was a high risk of side infection with erysipelas, syphilis, etc. As a result of this, A. Negri proposed in 1852 to receive an anti-smallpox vaccine from vaccinated calves.

At the end of the 19th century, advances in experimental immunology made it possible to study the processes that occur in the body after vaccination. The outstanding French scientist, chemist and microbiologist, founder of scientific microbiology and immunology, Louis Pasteur, concluded that the vaccination method can be applied to the treatment of other infectious diseases.

Using the chicken cholera model, Pasteur first made an experimentally substantiated conclusion: “a new disease protects against subsequent ones.” He defined the absence of recurrence of an infectious disease after vaccination as “immunity.” In 1881 he discovered a vaccine against anthrax. Subsequently, an anti-rabies vaccine was developed, which made it possible to fight rabies. In 1885, Pasteur organized the world's first anti-rabies station in Paris. The second anti-rabies station was created in Russia by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, and began to appear throughout Russia. In 1888, in Paris, with funds raised through international subscription, a special institute for the fight against rabies and other infectious diseases was created, which later received the name of its founder and first director. Thus, Pasteur’s discoveries laid the scientific foundations for the fight against infectious diseases by vaccination.

Discoveries by I.I. Mechnikov and P. Ehrlich made it possible to study the essence of the body’s individual immunity to infectious diseases. Through the efforts of these scientists, a coherent doctrine of immunity was created, and its authors I.I. Mechnikov and P. Erlich were awarded in 1908 Nobel Prize(1908).

Thus, scientists late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, it was possible to study the nature of dangerous diseases and propose effective ways to prevent them. The fight against smallpox turned out to be the most successful, as the organizational foundations for combating this disease were laid. The smallpox eradication program was proposed in 1958 by the USSR delegation at the XI Assembly of the World Health Organization and was successfully implemented in the late 1970s. joint efforts of all countries of the world. As a result, smallpox was defeated. All this has made it possible to significantly reduce mortality in the world, especially among children, and increase life expectancy.