|
Smallpox - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
|
Smallpox : (noun)
1: a highly contagious viral disease characterized by fever and
weakness and skin eruption with pustules that form scabs
that slough off leaving scars [syn: variola, variola
major]
Based on WordNet 2.0
|
|
Smallpox : \Small"pox`\, n. [Small _ pox, pocks.] (Med.)
A contagious, constitutional, febrile disease characterized
by a peculiar eruption; variola. The cutaneous eruption is at
first a collection of papules which become vesicles (first
flat, subsequently umbilicated) and then pustules, and
finally thick crusts which slough after a certain time, often
leaving a pit, or scar.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
|
|
Smallpox : Smallpox: Also known as variola, a highly contagious and frequently fatal viral disease characterized by a biphasic fever and a distinctive skin syphilis ). Smallpox is also known as
variola.
The English physician Edward Jenner (1749-1823) exploited the fact that cowpox created immunity to smallpox to create a vaccine for smallpox. Jenner took coxpox from a milkmaid who had
contracted it from an infected cow and innoculated an 8-year-old boy with the cowpox and then exposed him to smallpox -- an experiment questionable on ethical grounds. Aside from Jenner, other
participants in this historic experiment were Sarah Nelmes (the milkmaid), James Phipps (the young boy), and Blossom (the cow).
In America the first physician to promote the use of Jenner's vaccine was Benjamin Waterhouse (1754-1846), professor of the theory and practice of physic at Harvard Medical School. Waterhouse
inoculated his son and the rest of his household in 1800 to prove the value of the vaccine. (Experimenting on near and dear ones is frowned upon today).
Smallpox is one of the success stories of medicine. Thanks to vaccination, smallpox was eradicated from the globe in 1977.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
|
|
|
|
Example Usage of Smallpox |
 |
badmachinery: @ericajanes You should be grateful, in the future Swine Flu will be considered a timeless, classic virus - a bit like Smallpox! |
 |
ihbsonline_com: #HEALTH It is now accepted that the risks of routine Smallpox vaccination outweigh those of natural infection in Britain. |
 |
bobc_mass: #homeland Scientists Solve Mystery Of How Smallpox Kills: New research in the FASEB Journal explains how variola, m... http://bit.ly/5aIGEI |
|
