IMMUNOLOGY

OVERVIEW OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

THE GOOD BAD AND UGLY OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
The smallpox vaccine was developed using fluids from which other disease?
A
chicken pox
B
mad cow disease
C
black plague
D
cowpox
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -The basis for vaccination began in 1796 when the English doctor Edward Jenner noticed that milkmaids who had gotten cowpox were protected from smallpox. Jenner also knew about variolation and guessed that exposure to cowpox could be used to protect against smallpox.

Detailed explanation-2: -The vaccine is made from a virus called vaccinia, which is a poxvirus similar to smallpox, but less harmful. The smallpox vaccine contains live vaccinia virus, not a killed or weakened virus like many other vaccines.

Detailed explanation-3: -Cowpox is similar to, but much milder than, the highly contagious and often deadly smallpox disease. Its close resemblance to the mild form of smallpox and the observation that dairy farmers were immune to smallpox inspired the modern smallpox vaccine, created and administered by English physician Edward Jenner.

Detailed explanation-4: -In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the relatively mild cowpox virus conferred immunity against the deadly smallpox virus. Cowpox served as a natural vaccine until the modern smallpox vaccine emerged in the 20th century.

Detailed explanation-5: -Cowpox is a skin disease caused by a virus belonging to the Orthopoxvirus genus. Sporadic human cases of cowpox have been reported in Europe, mostly linked to handling of infected animal, usually rodents and cats.

Detailed explanation-6: -Historically, CPXV, or at least cowpox, the disease, is associated with Edward Jenner and the smallpox ‘vaccination’, but the modern smallpox vaccine is vaccinia virus, corresponding to a different species in the same genus, Orthopoxvirus.

Detailed explanation-7: -Dr Edward Jenner created the world’s first successful vaccine. He found out that people infected with cowpox were immune to smallpox. In May 1796, English physician Edward Jenner expands on this discovery and inoculates 8-year-old James Phipps with matter collected from a cowpox sore on the hand of a milkmaid.

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