James Phipps
Encyclopedia
James Phipps as an eight year old boy, was the first person given the cowpox
vaccine by Edward Jenner
.
Edward Jenner (1749–1823), a British rural physician, was variolated as a boy. He had suffered greatly from the ordeal but survived fully protected from smallpox. Jenner knew of a local belief that dairy workers who had contracted a relatively mild infection called cowpox
were immune to smallpox. He decided to test the "theory" (though he was probably not the first to do). On 14 May 1796 he selected "a healthy boy, about eight years old for the purpose of inoculation for the Cow Pox". The boy was James Phipps who survived the experiment and suffered only a mild fever. On 1 July 1796, Jenner took some "smallpox matter" (probably infected pus) and repeatedly inoculated Phipp's arms with it. Phipps survived, and was subsequently inoculated with smallpox more than 20 times without succumbing to the disease. Vaccination – the word is derived from the Latin vacca meaning "cow" – had been invented.
Cowpox
Cowpox is a skin disease caused by a virus known as the Cowpox virus. The pox is related to the vaccinia virus and got its name from the distribution of the disease when dairymaids touched the udders of infected cows. The ailment manifests itself in the form of red blisters and is transmitted by...
vaccine by Edward Jenner
Edward Jenner
Edward Anthony Jenner was an English scientist who studied his natural surroundings in Berkeley, Gloucestershire...
.
Edward Jenner (1749–1823), a British rural physician, was variolated as a boy. He had suffered greatly from the ordeal but survived fully protected from smallpox. Jenner knew of a local belief that dairy workers who had contracted a relatively mild infection called cowpox
Cowpox
Cowpox is a skin disease caused by a virus known as the Cowpox virus. The pox is related to the vaccinia virus and got its name from the distribution of the disease when dairymaids touched the udders of infected cows. The ailment manifests itself in the form of red blisters and is transmitted by...
were immune to smallpox. He decided to test the "theory" (though he was probably not the first to do). On 14 May 1796 he selected "a healthy boy, about eight years old for the purpose of inoculation for the Cow Pox". The boy was James Phipps who survived the experiment and suffered only a mild fever. On 1 July 1796, Jenner took some "smallpox matter" (probably infected pus) and repeatedly inoculated Phipp's arms with it. Phipps survived, and was subsequently inoculated with smallpox more than 20 times without succumbing to the disease. Vaccination – the word is derived from the Latin vacca meaning "cow" – had been invented.