Incidence Of Smallpox Research Articles

The formation of the sanitary service in the Voronezh region in the XVIII–XIX centuries

The aim of the work was to study the history of the formation of the sanitary service in the Voronezh region in the XVIII–XIX centuries. The material of the research was archival materials of the State Archives of the Voronezh Region, the Voronezh Regional Universal Scientific Library named after I.S. Nikitin. The article presents the main historical stages in the development of the sanitary and epidemiological service of the period of the 18th — 19th centuries. Brief information about the first doctors on the territory of the Voronezh province, the raging epidemics of scurvy, typhus, and plague is presented. The most terrible disease that the population of the Voronezh province faced in the first quarter of the 18th century was the plague. Anti-epidemic measures to combat the plague included the establishment of strong outposts and quarantines on the roads, the burning of houses with belongings, horses and cattle, the delay of couriers and the reception of letters through fire with their three times rewriting, the death penalty if the above measures were violated. In the 18th century, the first hospital for the civilian population was opened in the Voronezh region. Medical institutions were poor, poorly equipped, there was an acute shortage of personnel and medical supplies. In 1797, medical boards were organized in the provincial cities, consisting of an inspector, an obstetrician and an operator. The general supervision of hospitals, keeping records of infectious diseases, monitoring the quality of food, conducting forensic medical examinations, and examining patients was entrusted to the council. In the 19th century, cholera became widespread among the population. To prevent the incidence of smallpox, vaccination of the population was carried out since 1802. At the beginning of the 19th century, the replenishment of medical personnel in the Voronezh province was due to midwives. The situation with medical personnel changed only towards the end of the 19th century. The end of the century is characterized by a significant increase in socially significant infectious diseases, especially tuberculosis, syphilis.

Rethinking smallpox.

The potential consequences of a competently executed smallpox attack have not been adequately considered by policy makers. The possibility of release of an aerosolized and/or bioengineered virus must be anticipated and planned for. The transmission and infectivity of variola virus are examined. Arguments for and against pre-event vaccination are offered. The likely morbidity and mortality that would ensue from implementation of a mass pre-event vaccination program, within reasonable boundaries, are known. The extent of contagion that could result from an aerosolized release of virus is unknown and may have been underestimated. Pre-event vaccination of first responders is urged, and voluntary vaccination programs should be offered to the public. Two defenses against a vaccine-resistant, engineered variola virus are proposed for consideration. Methisazone, an overlooked drug, is reported to be effective for prophylaxis only. The extent of reduction in the incidence of smallpox with use of this agent is uncertain. It is useless for treatment of clinical smallpox. N-100 respirators (face masks) worn by uninfected members of the public may prevent transmission of the virus.

Smallpox containment updated: considerations for the 21st century

Smallpox containment updated: considerations for the 21st century

Invisible invaders: smallpox and other diseases in Aboriginal Australia, 1780-1880

An epidemic of smallpox among Aboriginal people around the infant colony of Sydney in 1789 puzzled the British, for there had been no cases on the ships of the First Fleet. Where, then, did the epidemic come from? As explorers moved further inland, they witnessed other epidemics of smallpox, notably in the late 1820s and early 1830s and again in the 1860s and 1870s. They also encountered many pockmarked survivors of early epidemics. In Invisible Invaders, Judy Campbell argues that epidemics of smallpox among Australian Aboriginals preceded European settlement. She believes they originated in regular visits to the northern coast of Australia by Macassan fishermen from southern Sulawesi and nearby islands. They were searching for trepang, for which there was a profitable market in China. The Macassan fishermen usually visited during the monsoon season, and the local Indigenous people traded with them. Once the monsoon was over, these Aboriginals resumed their travels into the interior for food, social contact and ritual events, carrying small pox with them. Smallpox thus slowly moved across the continent, eventually reaching the south-east, where it was first recorded by Europeans. Judith Campbell's research on the incidence of smallpox and other diseases among Aboriginal people has extended over more than twenty years. Accumulating evidence from other disciplines supports her findings.

Smallpox and Nutritional Status in England, 1770‐1873: On the Difficulties of Estimating Historical Heights

I n a recent issue of this journal, Voth and Leunig (V&L) analysed the impact of smallpox on physical stature in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and drew far-reaching conclusions about the correlation between the incidence of smallpox and the development of human stature in England.2 Using a sample of lower-class boys recruited into the Marine Society,3 they estimated that the disease had a strong negative impact of about 1 inch on height. We argue below that their methodology is inappropriate and that their results are flawed for at least three reasons. The Marine Society was a charitable institution that took poor boys from the streets of London and educated them as servants and apprentices for the navy. However, the admission of the boys was controlled by minimum height requirements, which changed frequently over time, and increased substantially after the Napoleonic wars. In practice they were enforced with varying degrees of stringency. Hence, some observations below the height standard are also included in the sample, a phenomenon called shortfall.4

Smallpox as an Etiologic Factor in Male Infertility

An attempt was made to assess the role of smallpox infection as an etiologic factor in infertility in men. The study is based on the analysis of 800 patients who had registered with the Family Welfare Bureau in Bombay, India during the past 19 years for investigation and treatment of infertility. A thorough history was taken and a physical examination was performed on each patient. In every case a routine semen analysis was repeatedly performed 2 or 3 times, at an interval of 15-30 days, to assess the magnitude of spontaneous variations occurring in the semen. In all cases of azoospermia and in cases of severe oligospermia, where the sperm count was less than 10 million/cu cm, a testicular biopsy was performed. In 895 cases there was history and evidence of prior smallpox infection. These cases (designated the smallpox series) were analyzed according to the sperm counts and according to the lesions observed in the testicular biopsies. For the control series, another group of 895 serially registered infertile patients who had not had smallpox was analyzed in an identical way. Testicular biopsies were performed in 358 azoospermic cases belonging to each series. In analyzing the cases according to the sperm levels, the mean sperm count prior to therapy was considered to be the representative count in each patient. The incidence of smallpox in the present series of infertile men was 11.18%. The incidence of severe oligospermia and moderate oligospermia was practically the same in both series. The incidence of azoospermia was 42.57% in the smallpox series and only 17.87% in the control series. The incidence of normospermia was only 30.17% in the smallpox series and as much as 52.52% in the control series. The incidence of obstructive azoospermia was as high as 79.36% in the smallpox series. It was 46.23% in the control series. In patients with nonobstructive azoospermia, testicular lesions such as partial or complete arrest of spermatogensis at various levels, germinal cell aplasia, severe tubular atrophy, and hyalinization of the tubules were encountered with comparable frequency in both series. The study supports the frequent clinical impression that the incidence of obstructive azoospermia is very high in patients who have had smallpox. 4 of 5 such cases have obstructive lesions. The site of obstruction is usually at the lower end of the epididymis, and the testes seem to escape the brunt of the disease.

Smallpox Vaccination

The zero incidence of smallpox in the United States for so many years, and the significant morbidity and mortality from vaccination, has led to the acceptable and desirable recommendation that routine immunization against smallpox be discontinued. However appropriate this step may seem, it will pose a number of new problems which will involve the pediatrician especially. (1) For many years, smallpox vaccination has been an almost sacred tenet, an immunologic gospel to the population, and has been credited with the conquest of this disease in this country—even though herd immunity could hardly be said to have existed here. Public reeducation is a hazardous matter.

Simultaneous immunization against tularemia and smallpox

The practice of recent years has shown that the correct organization and systematic implementation of preventive vaccinations have allowed to sharply reduce everywhere, and in some areas eliminate a number of infectious diseases, including tularemia. The incidence of smallpox has been virtually eliminated in the Soviet Union. However, over-the-top outbreaks of this infection can occur (A. F. Serenko, 1959-1960).

Further work on forecasting smallpox epidemics in India and British tropical countries based on previous climatic data

1. Earlier work on forecasting epidemics of smallpox in India, based on the study of the previous rainfall and humidity, has been confirmed and extended by the present study and a few instances which did not conform to the general rule have been explained as due to the spread of the disease from an adjacent province.2. An extension of the inquiry to other tropical countries of the British Empire indicates that in tropical countries in general with well-marked dry and wet seasons, the annual decline of smallpox incidence to a low minimum in relation to high absolute humidities during the rainy season is the rule; for it is absent in equatorial Uganda with rains throughout the year, and both the monsoon period and the monthly incidence of smallpox are reversed in such a Southern Hemisphere country as Nyassaland in accordance with the general rule.3. Where smallpox is endemic in such countries increased prevalence in any year may usually be foreseen by watching the meteorological records in time to control the expected increase to some extent by increased use of vaccination.4. Other air-borne diseases are worthy of study on similar lines in countries with suitable vital statistics and climatic conditions.

Smallpox in the United States

ACCORDING to an annotation in the June issue of the Statistical Bulletin, the organ of the Metropolitan Life Assurance Company of New York, a remarkably low record for smallpox was established for 1941 in the United States, only 1,432 cases having been reported in the whole country during that year, or scarcely more than half the number notified in 1940 (2,795). In Canada also the incidence of smallpox was very low, only 26 cases having been reported, all but one of which occurred in the single province of Saskatchewan. As in previous years, the type of the disease in the United States was mild, and it is probable that not more than ten deaths occurred. There is good reason to believe that the present decline is real, and that the disease will be eradicated in the next decade. During the past twenty-one years, nearly half a million cases of smallpox have been reported in the United States, one State alone, Indiana, being represented by 37,902 cases. The chief centre of smallpox infection in the United States recently has been in the north-west corner of the country which comprises the States of Montana, Washington, Idaho and Oregon, while the lowest incidence is in the New England and Middle Atlantic States, followed by the States in the south-east corner of the country. The high incidence in Indiana is to be attributed to the fact that at a recent survey less than 13 per cent of the Indiana pre-school children and not more than 53 per cent of school children less than ten years of age were found to be vaccinated. It is therefore highly desirable that the following warnings should be widely spread: (1) no one is naturally immune to smallpox ; (2) protection against it must be acquired artificially by vaccination ; (3) the immunity conferred by vaccination is not life long, but must be renewed by revaccination at intervals of seven years or when an outbreak of smallpox occurs.

The Ministry of Health in 1933–34

THE fifteenth Annual Report of the Ministry of Health was issued on August 11 (Cmd. 4664. London: HJVL Stationery Office. 65. net). The Report, which relates to the year ended March 31, 1934, is divided into six partspublic health housing and town planning, local government and local finance, ad ministration of the poor law, national health insurance and contributory pensions, and the Welsh Board of Health. As in previous years, the Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry is published separately. During the twelve months, private enter prise built without subsidy 207,869 houses, which constitutes a record. The opportunity has been taken to include in the Report a full review of the public health services under the conditions created by the Local Government Act, 1929. The number of samples of food analysed by public analysts during the year 1933 was 138,171, of which 7,601 samples were reported as adulterated:or not up to standard, a percentage of 5-5, being a slight increase over the two previous years. As regards infectious diseases, the notable features of the year were an increase in the prevalence of scarlet fever, concurrently with an increase in the prevalence in diphtheria, an increase in the prevalence of and mortality from cerebro-spinal fever, and a decline in the incidence of smallpox.

Vaccination Laws and Incidence of Smallpox

Vaccination Laws and Incidence of Smallpox

An Argument in Favor of Vaccination, with Statistics of the Incidence of Smallpox in the United States, Its Dependencies and Canada

An Argument in Favor of Vaccination, with Statistics of the Incidence of Smallpox in the United States, Its Dependencies and Canada

Incidence of Smallpox Throughout the World in Recent Years

Incidence of Smallpox Throughout the World in Recent Years

The Incidence of Smallpox in Relation To Sanitation

The Incidence of Smallpox in Relation To Sanitation

Incidence of small-pox as regards vaccination

Incidence of small-pox as regards vaccination