The Deadly Hemorrhagic Form of Smallpox: An Epidemic Disease in British Colonial India

Abstract

India is a vast country with its diversified ecological zones and its own peculiar diseases, which were difficult to prevent with the limited resources. When the British came to India, they were only avoiding the diseases but in the nineteenth century they started making attempts to reduce sickness and mortality among the natives. Ayurveda and the Unani medicines were the main streams of the health care. In British India, there were a set of epidemic diseases; like cholera, leprosy, malaria, plague and smallpox. Smallpox is a deadly hemorrhagic form of smallpox, which is influenced by the poor sanitation and malnutrition. Hindu mythology is a large body of traditional narratives. Hindu goddess was widely worshipped in North India called ‘Shitala’ as a smallpox protector. Indian people are having blind faith upon traditional medicines, comprises of plants, herbs and trees. ‘Rinderpest’, a form of smallpox; an infectious disease, only the second disease in history to be fully wiped out, following smallpox. The British government took great efforts to prevent diseases. A variety of medical, political, religious and social servers kept on searching for effective means of controlling it spread. Smallpox was the main target during that period, although vaccinations were also carried out. ‘Edward Jenner’, an English Doctor; has made great achievements by inventing the vaccination against the smallpox variolation. . The global eradication of smallpox is arguably the greatest achievement of 20 th century medicine. WHO Health Assembly made a concerted call for global smallpox eradication in 1958.