Talk:Cowpox

Comments

Speaking as a researcher of poxviruses, Cowpox and Vaccinia virus are not referred to interchangeably. I'd recommend the removal of the comment suggesting that they are.

I believe the virus responsible is "Vaccinia virus".

This site: http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/pox/history.html states that the vaccinia virus is not the same as cowpox virus.

I would agree: it's not the wild form of cowpox, not is it catpox or any of the wild pox viruses ... it's a domesticated species by now.

"However, credit was stolen by the politically astute Dr. Jenner who performed his first inoculation, 22 years later. It is said that Jenner made this discovery by himself without any ideas or help from others. Although Jesty was first to discover it, Jenner let everyone know and understand it, thus taking full credit for it."

Stealing is a willful act, however this block states that Jenner was unaware of Jesty's work. Could someone who is familiar with the facts rewrite this to be a) neutral and b) non-contradictory. The Mysterious X 02:35, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

I'm currently researching smallpox with sources from the Jenner period for other purposes: will come back and edit it. At first glance, it appears that Jesty just inoculated his immediate family and did not publish or otherwise spread the information. He was recognized as a "pioneer" of the method in his lifetime and Jenner's. Jenner published and campaigned and really pushed the idea.

Please make reference to Voltaire's "Letter from England" where he discusses the import of the practice of inoculation from Turkey and the Cirrcasian community and its adoption by the British Royal Family. Voltaire also discusses the use of the practice in China. Jenner must have been aware of some of these facts, especially with reference to the Royal Family. Voltaire published "Letter ....." in 1731.

The earlier inoculations were with live smallpox vaccine, a practice known as "variolation". For various reasons, mostly because the European doctors failed to follow the traditional method but revised it until it was a lengthy ordeal no better than having the smallpox, it fell into disfavor. Jenner's leap was to recognize that cowpox bestowed good immunity to variola.

Why is Jester first identified as a farmer, and then identified as having "patients"? I agree with the comment on the "stealing theme" -- there may be credit due to one who discovers something but sits on or hoards the benefits, but one who discovers and disseminates the discovery to the benefit of millions deserves the real credit. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.82.88.154 (talk) 17:59, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

The articles on Benjamin Jesty and Edward Jenner make the situation clearer. The idea that cowpox provided immunity to smallpox was quite well known in dairy districts in the mid-eighteenth century; at least half a dozen persons are recorded as trying it around the same time. Jesty may have the been the first person to deliberately inoculate with cowpox, but we know of him primarily because of his efforts to claim financial recognition after Jenner was voted an enormous sum of reward money by a thankful parliament. Even at the time, Jesty's efforts were investigated fairly carefully, publicly acknowledged, and rewarded by a presentation of a pair of golden lancets. However, Jesty's efforts were judged to have been far less important than Jenner's work. Jenner didn't just try inoculating with cowpox; he undertook a series of experiments which proved that it both worked (by attempting variolation), and that it was safe. (Notably, Jesty didn't actually test if his inoculation had worked until decades later, after Jenner had proven it.) Even more importantly, Jenner developed a method of inoculation ("chain vaccination") which made mass vaccination of the population feasible and economic. Jesty's method could only be used on very small numbers of people because it required access to a sick cow, and actually very few cows get cowpox; whereas chain vaccination made it possible to immunise practically every person in a district, and eradicate the disease altogether. Jenner has the moral high ground, too: Jesty inoculated only his closest family as a one-off act during a time when he feared for their safety; Jenner dedicated most of his life to saving the whole population. -- 202.63.39.58 (talk) 12:22, 1 September 2010 (UTC)

Kinepox; Lewis and Clark

The section on "kinepox" practically gives the impression the kinepox was different to smallpox, when it says things like kinepox was a far safer method for inoculating people against smallpox than the previous method, variolation, which had a 3% fatality rate. (Right after a long discussion of cowpox inoculation having just the same property.) In fact, of course, "kine" is just an old word for cows. Most of the section could be dealt with by saying "cowpox (also known as kinepox)" in the article head.

More puzzling, what exactly is meant by:

Unfortunately, Lewis never got the opportunity to use kinepox during the pair's expedition as it had become inadvertently inactive

In 1802, the only way to tell if a vaccine was active was to try it out. (And actually, it isn't much easier today.) So if Lewis didn't get the opportunity to use his cowpox, how did he know it was inactive? Did the author mean to say that Lewis did use the vaccine, but none of his patients developed pustules? -- 202.63.39.58 (talk) 11:46, 1 September 2010 (UTC)

What exactly does "Kinepox" mean, and is it a pun?

The section on kinepox says "Kinepox is an alternate term for the smallpox vaccine used in early 19th century America". Is this really true, or is kinepox an alternate term for cowpox itself (whether or not it is used as a vaccine)?

Also, kinepox sounds like pseudo-German "kein pox" for "no pox" (I guess the actual German would be "keine pocken"). Is it possible that using "kinepox" to describe the smallpox vaccine was a deliberate play on words? 87.157.208.205 (talk) 06:25, 15 April 2012 (UTC)