3 ms·
There's a historical practice called variolation which involved inoculating healthy people with ground scabs/pus from people with smallpox. They'd make a small
by meepmorp 3y ago
There's a historical practice called variolation which involved inoculating healthy people with ground scabs/pus from people with smallpox. They'd make a small scrape on the skin and introduce the material. It was a reasonably protective practice, especially considering the options available at the time.
Iirc, Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccine was based on cowpox, a related but less serious disease.
- tyre 3y agoYes, which is how we ultimately get to the word vaccine. "vacca" is latin for cow.
- cstejerean 3y agoFrom what I recall about 2% of people who got the procedure died. On the other hand actually catching smallpox had something like a 30% fatality rate, so the procedure became fairly popular.