ng uninfected individuals to matter from smallpox lesions. This process was known as “variolation,” and took on several different forms. One form consisted of removing pus and fluid from a smallpox lesion and using a needle to place it under the skin of the person to be protected (Okonek 2001). Another method involved peeling scabs from lesions, drying and grinding then to a powder, and letting an uninfected person inhale this powder. The third and final method was involving a small amount of the scab powder with a needle and then using the needle place the powder directly into the individuals veins (Okonek 2001). During this time Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, wife of the British Ambassador to Turkey saw these procedures taking place in China and brought it back to England (Okonek 2001).In the late 1700s Edward Jenner noticed a relationship between the equine disease known as “grease” and a bovine disease known as “cowpox” (Okonek 2001). Jenner saw that farmers who treated horses with grease lesions often saw the development of cowpox in their cows, also with very similar lesions to those seen in smallpox. However, unlike smallpox, the cowpox blisters eventually disappeared leaving only a little scar at the site of each blister (Okonek 2001). In 1976 Jenner infected a young boy with cowpox in hopes of preventing a subsequent smallpox infection (Okonek 2001). After allowing the boy to fully recover, Jenner then infected him with smallpox by injecting pus from a smallpox lesion directly under his skin. Luckily as Jenner predicted the boy did not contract smallpox (Okonek 2001). Disease causing organisms have at least two distinct effects on the body (Six 2001). The first effect is that we feel sick, exhibiting symptoms such as fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, and many others. The second is the disease-causing organism induces an immune response in the infected host, thus resulting in th...
