Smallpox
Smallpox
Collection: Pandemics, Society, and Public Health, 1517–1925 Volumes Smallpox
This volume is concerned with smallpox. Caused by the Variola virus, smallpox is regarded as one of the deadliest diseases in human history. It is characterised by an initial fever and vomiting, followed by the formation of a distinctive rash with fluid-filled blisters. Mortality rates were extremely high, particularly for young children. Smallpox was a leading cause of death in eighteenth century Europe. It frequently left survivors disabled. In the late eighteenth century, physician Edward Jenner developed a smallpox vaccine that utilised cowpox for the purposes of inoculation—he realised that people who had contracted cowpox seemed immune to smallpox. The introduction of the smallpox vaccine led to a significant reduction in smallpox cases worldwide and ultimately led to the eradication of the disease.
This volume tracks responses to smallpox in the UK throughout the nineteenth century until the mid-twentieth century. The volume also contains documentation regarding smallpox dating from the eighteenth century. The documents within this collection were sourced from four leading UK archives: The National Archives, British Library, University College London, and London Metropolitan Archives. A complete item listing can be found on the Downloads page for this collection.
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