Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-08-21
BY FRANK CAREY
Associated Press Science Writer

Associated Press science writer
The pock-marked hand of a
pretty dairymaid in 18th CEN
fury England has indirectly
saved the lives of millions of
persons throughout the world.
It was from ulcer-like sores
on the hand Of the maid-who
had contracted "cowpox" from
q COW she had been milking
that a young medical student
named Edward Jenner eX-
tracted virus that led to the
development Of the worlds first
vaccine against any disease.
The malady against which
the vaccine was developed was
smallpox.
For centuries smallpox - so
called to distinguish 1t from
syphilis, the great pox"-had
been the scourage of all the
nations of the world. 1t killed
millions every year and left
other millions marked for life
with diSfiguring pock-marks.
Smallpox undoubtedly had
changed the course Of history
many times before Jenner DEM
onstrated in 1798-with the
help of the dairymaid and an
8-year-old boy-that inocula-
ton Of the skin with germs of
cowpow, a much less serious
disease, could prevent smallpox
In man.
The little boy, named James
Phipps, was first inoculated
with germs from the maids
hand, and a couple Of weeks
later was purposely inoculated
with fearsome smallpox germs.
He didn't get sick.
Today, this is still the
method of preventing small
pox, although great improve
ments have been made in Jen-
ner's crude method.
Many Diseases Blocked
But Jenner's discovery Of
vaccination - appropri-
ately named for the Latin
word "vacca," meaning COW
helped revolutionize the fight
against many other plaques of
the human race.
Today, thanks to the pio-
neering work Of Jenner and
Louis Pasteur, who developed
a vaccine against rabies, vac
cines or related materials are
available against a brigade of
ailments, including some that
once were great cripplers or
killers of Children.
The list includes: measles,
influenza, polio, diphtheria,
whooping cough, tetanus dock
jaw). rabies, cholera. plague,
typhoid, typhus, rocky noun
tain spotted fever, mumps, yell
low fever, and adeno-virus, the
latter being one Of the many
forms of the common cold.
There's also a vaccine against
tuberculosis, called BEG" but
it's still not accepted for use
in this country.
Bethesda Boys Role
A Bethesda MD youth. now
20 years old, VISA a medical
hero in the 1854 breakthrough
which led to vaccines against
measles, the most prevalent of
all childhood diseases in the
United States.
AS an 11-year-old stricken
with measles while attending
school in Massachusetts,, David
Edmonston and some school,
mates suffering from measles
co-operated in research which
resulted in isolation of measles
virus.
This "Edmonston strain" was
the basic seed for nearly a de-
cade of laboratory work which
since has resulted in the first
practical, effective vaccines
against measles.
Research is being pushed on
many fronts to try to develop
vaccines against still-elusive
maladies - such as leukemia
and other forms of cancer;
German measles; mononucle-
osis, sometimes called the kiss
ing disease; and encephalitis,
an inflammation of the brain.
Efforts also are being made
to improve some Of the vac
cines already available, such
as that against mumps.
Tragedy Works Way
While the vaccines now in
use have proved a great boon
to humanity, the development
of some of them has been
marked by tragedy-and even
martyrdom.
The deaths that resulted
from the Gutter incident" in
the early days of the Salk polio
vaccine - due to undecided
persistence Of live, untempered