When Mitty finds an envelope containing scabs from the 1902 smallpox epidemic, his life is turned upside down. A scab crumbles to dust in his hand as his nose starts to itch...nothing will be the same. Mitty Blake couldn’t care less about his grades or school until his biology teacher, Mr. Lynch assigns a paper on an infection disease. Having no idea what he should start researching two days before it is due Mitty pulls some old books medical books on infectious diseases. There he learns of small pox, a very deadly disease that killed thousands. And although he knows smallpox no longer exists, he can’t help but wonder if maybe he is bringing it back to life.

DEFENITIONS Variola Major: a severe case of smallpox with fatality rate at 30% Pox: Latin word for spotted, referring to raised bumps that appear on an infected victim. Smallpox: a highly contagious disease unique to humans known as Variola Major or Variola Minor depending on severance Inoculation: a vaccination taken to prevent the contraction of a disease Vaccination: administration of a substance that cause an immune response to something

INOCULATIONS China – insufflation The Chinese believed that through inhaling the dust of smallpox scabs that they were immunizing themselves. They would take smallpox scabs of an infected person, grind them up and inhale them through the nose. This practice however was given up after studies proved it actually increased the chances of getting infected with smallpox. Turkey – slumber parties Turkish mothers held huge slumber parties for all the kids on their block to immunize them of smallpox. They would scrape the child’s arm and rub in pus from a smallpox victim. The result was that the kids would have a mild case of smallpox but survive with no scars on the child’s body. They did this because they noticed that when you become infected with smallpox no matter how mild or severe it was, if you managed to survive, you were immune for life.

COW POX In 1796 Edward Jenner discovered that cowpox can be used as a cure for smallpox. He had observed how dairy maids who works with cows never got smallpox, because they had cowpox. Jenner cuts a kid’s arm open and places cowpox virus in the scrape. A couple of weeks later Jenner cuts open the child’s arm again and inserts smallpox into the cut. He thought it was safe because cowpox does give the body some damage, but it is not permanent and it fades after 4 – 6 weeks after infection. This is called a challenge, were it either works or it doesn’t. We don’t use it very often today without plenty of research because it is someone’s life on the line. But Jenner’s hypothesis was right. Cowpox prevented smallpox from entering the body. Vaccine was also created in this process because of the involvement of the cow. Vaccus in Latin means cow. Now, though we take a very small part of a dead virus and inject it into our bodies to build up immunity.

A Young Boy with smallpox A cowpox ulcer

The Envelope That Started It All