Smallpox
The recent concerns regarding bio-terrorism have given rise to calls for a mass vaccination program against smallpox. The Bush administration has floated plans to administer the smallpox vaccine to healthcare and military workers, to protect against a smallpox outbreak in the United States. This paper examines the symptoms and morbidity rates of smallpox, and studies the arguments both for and against a mass smallpox vaccination campaign.

Smallpox first appeared in northeastern Africa or the Indus Valley of south-central Asia nearly 12,000 years ago (Mayo Clinic 2002).

Throughout history, outbursts of smallpox broke out in various parts of the globe.

The smallpox contagion was also played a decisive role in the colonization of the Americas. In the 15th century, European explorers acted as the unwitting carriers of smallpox to the New orld. Because they lacked natural resistance, Native Americans quickly succumbed to the disease. They also transmitted the virus to other populations. In South….

The discussion of the effects of smallpox, however, brings into light the fact that War and the events surrounding the War were only small part of the colonists' lives. Despite the War, the colonists had to live their daily lives and endure practical and everyday affairs such as work and disease. Fenn in her book does an excellent job of placing these factors in focus.
If there is a criticism of the book it must be in its failure to provide any new information regarding the conduct of the War itself. Although she does add smallpox to the equation she offers little beyond that fact. Like most authors, she tends to glorify the efforts of the colonists and, by doing so, fails to offer a pragmatic view of the conflict. In what could have been an interesting angle in the book Fenn briefly makes mention of the possibility that the….

Development in Modern Medicine In spite of the fact that vaccinations were able to eradicate smallpox, anti-vaccinationists continue to make arguments in opposition to the vaccines because, as Mariner, Annas and Glants show, they base their views on their own personal experience, which can include “bad reactions to earlier vaccinations” (582). The individual experiences of people like Henning Jacobsen, who claimed that vaccinations were neither effective for them nor healthy, may have been exceptions to the rule (they always exist), or they may have been politically motivated to oppose what may have been perceived as overreach on the part of state and federal governments in their attempt to eradicate a disease by ordering the population to vaccinate. In terms of freedom of choice, Jacobsen’s arguments certainly resonate with Americans who support the concept of liberty. However, in today’s world, where safety and security are also viewed as important in maintaining order….

6). What doctors do know is that the young, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are far more likely to suffer adverse effects or become contaminated should an epidemic break out. These populations are also far more likely to develop the disease or suffer from side effects of vaccination which may include a heart attack (Annas, 2003).
Many suggest the risk is unknown, because the disease is nearly eradicated, it would take a modern outbreak to ascertain the prognosis of individuals with the disease in modern times. Many feel however, that discourse on the subject is best left unsaid, because the more people discuss the disease, the more likely it is that someone will inadvertently get hold of the disease and attempt to use it.

eferences

Annas, George J. "Smallpox Vaccine: Not Worth the isk," the Hastings Center eport, 33.2, 2003. pp.6-9.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2002) Smallpox fact sheet,….

In 1779 the Creeks and Cherokees in 1779 suffered tremendous population losses and were unable to resist the new U.S. federal government's political and military advances upon their land (Richter 2001). The Indians lost economic power as well, as the Crees and Assiniboines saw their control over the northern fur trade ebb away to the Hudson's Bay Company. Through New Spain, the Great Plains, Hudson's Bay, and the Pacific Coast between 1779 and 1782, the pox cut a swathe through the nation, but had a particularly devastating impact upon Native Americans (Richter 2001). The Native Americans lost their political and economic clout, their land, as well as their lives, and, in the very long-term, they also lost their culture to the epidemic brought by whites.
orks Cited

Richter, Donald. Review of Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82. By Elizabeth Fenn. New York, N.Y., Hill & ang Publishers, 2001. Common….

esearch Proposal on the Smallpox Vaccine: Controversy, Shift, and Social ImpactThe smallpox vaccine was a major step in the birth and development of the vaccine industry. To some extent, it set the stage for the start of what would eventually emerge as a new industry in healthcarethe vaccine industry. This proposal is to look at the history of the vaccine, controversies that arose as a result of it, and how it changed society in terms of media and communication.The smallpox vaccine stemmed from Edward Jenner\\\'s work in the late 18th century, which was used to show that inoculation with cowpox material could protect against the smallpox virus. Other vaccines followed eventually, including those for rabies, cholera, and typhoid. However, it was not until the widespread production of the smallpox vaccine, driven by the need to control outbreaks, that the emergence of a vaccine industry in a more organized form came….

In its most basic sense, this treaty abolished the age-old practice of electing a king of the Romans, a reference to the Holy Roman Empire; it gave France the geographical areas of Verdun, Alsace, Metz and a portion of Strasburg; Sweden was given West Pomerania, Stettin, Wismar and Bremen, known as bishoprics but now part of northern Germany; Bavaria retained the Upper Palatinate and all electoral titles, and Saxony retained Lusatia. Also, Spain was forced to fully recognize the United Provinces as a sovereign nation-state. Overall, the Treaty of Westphalia turned Europe into a conglomerate of separate political and economic nation-states that were only partially dependent on each other; the treaty also made it possible for mercantilism to spread throughout Europe, thus creating the foundation for many more years of conflict and war. In addition, this treaty also brought an end to the Eighty Years War between Spain and….

As to the availability of safe and clean water supplies, and safe waste disposal facilities, Native Peoples are again on the short end of the stick. About twelve percent of Native People do not have adequate supplies of fresh drinking water and dependable waste facilities while only one percent of the general American population do not have those needed facilities (Indian Health Services).

The U.S. Commission on Civil rights reports that the rates Native Americans are dying resulting from diabetes, alcoholism, suicide, unintentional injuries and other health conditions is "shocking" (www.USCCR.gov). Going back to the arrival of the Europeans on the North American Continent, many diseases were brought to the Native Peoples which were "far more lethal than any weapon in the European arsenal" so anyone even preliminarily examining the health care history of Native Peoples can clearly see that this dilemma has been a plague for Indians (www.USCCR.gov). The infectious….

Chemical and Biological Terroism
Biological and Chemical Terrorism Prevention

The United States Government has identified the potential of chemical, biological, radiological and/or nuclear (termed CBN) terrorism, especially after the September 11 attacks. They have been concerned ever since Sarin was used in a Tokyo subway (Aum Shinrikyo in 1995) and the anthrax case (in November 2001). The chances of terrorists resorting to these agents in warfare are pretty high considering their advantages over conventional methods. Most organizations fighting terrorism are not equipped well enough to detect such chemicals. A closed container can help most of them escape discovery. The low cost involved in their production increases the dangers manifold. Since most of the above agents affect the human body directly, they are essentially more efficient than conventional warfare.

Chemical weapons have four major classifications. Choking agents are aimed at being fatal and are easily accessible. Phosgene is one such industrial chemical agent. Blister….

26 Yet public health continued to mean, even more than in the Clinton administration, a technological approach to national defense. In the Bush administration, pharmaceutical protection became the centerpiece of biodefense policy. On December 13, 2002, convinced of the Dark Winter-type threat of smallpox, President Bush announced his nationwide smallpox inoculation program. Publicity about Iraq's potential biological arsenal, especially in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion, and the threat of bioterrorism had convinced many in the public to participate. The states and the CDC were ready to handle the logistics. In addition, civilian participation was voluntary, which reduced legal liability for those who administered the vaccine and for the government.
As might have been predicted, this smallpox vaccination campaign found it difficult to circumvent the well-known fears of vaccination as a source of bodily pollution and the mistrust engendered when vaccines appear a worse health risk than the forecast epidemic. The….

Having known the mounting dangers, many public health and bio-terrorism experts, members of Congress and some well-positioned ush administration officials convey increasing discomfort about what they think are flaws in the country's bio-defenses. Over the earlier years, awareness steps have been made, mainly in the large cities. ut most of necessary equipments are not available.
The federal government's standard answer to the anthrax assaults of 2001 and the warning of upcoming bio-terror attacks has been to accumulate huge amounts of drugs and vaccines to take care of or vaccinate sufferers or possible sufferers. However, these medicines are ineffective if there is no dependable system in place to quickly distribute and give out them to the disturbed populations early enough for the drugs to be successful. Regrettably, as of now, we do not have this strong, competent system in position in the United States. At the close of 2003, only two….

Native Societies and Disease
Numerous reports from European traders, missionaries, soldiers and explorers in the 16th and 17th Centuries reveal the same information about the devastating effect smallpox and other epidemic diseases had on the aboriginal populations of the Americas. Europeans were colonizing Africa and Asia at the same time, but "on no other continent in historic times has a combined disease and Construct phenomenon led to the collapse of an entire indigenous population."[footnoteRef:1] In 1492, Native Americans were one-fifth to one-sixth of the global population, but their numbers never came close to equaling that again after all the great epidemics that struck them in waves. Unlike China and India, where smallpox, plague, typhus, measles and influenza already existed, and therefore the local populations had more immunity and greatly outnumbered the European colonizers, aboriginal American societies routinely suffered mortality rates of 80 or 90%. Some forms of smallpox, such as the….

egardless, highly possible plans can be devised could result in huge numbers of deaths that range into the thousands for chemical agents and the hundreds of thousands, or maybe millions, with biological ones6. Bioterrorists have successfully utilized agents ranging from the ones that rapidly cause death, such as nerve agents and cyanide, to those that impact hours after exposure, such as mustard gas and pulmonary agents.
John Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies compared potential biological agents to determine which maximum credible event would offer the greatest risk for a public health response. In this case, the "maximum credible event" is defined as an occurrence that could cause significant loss of life, as well as disruption, panic, and a total overwhelming of the civilian health-care resources. 7

To fit this definition of a maximum credible event, the CB must include some of the following properties: be highly lethal, easily produced in….

ibliography

Crosby, Alfred W. Ecological Imperialism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

eezley, ill. "The Global Market from and to the Americas." University of Arizona (November 23, 2004), http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:uKRvc_4yeu4J:las.arizona.edu/outreach/complete_curriculum_units/taste_of_LA/Taste%2520of%2520LA%2520Handouts.pdf+%22columbian+exchange%22+food&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us.

Hodge, F. "Disabled American Indians: A Special Population Requiring Special Considerations." American Indian Culture and Research Journal 13 (1988), 83-104.

Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Conquest of Paradise. New York: Alfred a. Knopf, 1990.

Stannard, David E. American Holocaust. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Viola, Herman J. And Carolyn Margolis. Seeds of Change. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991.

David E. Stannard, American Holocaust (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 53.

Kirkpatrick Sale, the Conquest of Paradise (New York: Alfred a. Knopf, 1990), 34.

Herman J. Viola and Carolyn Margolis, Seeds of Change (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), 79.

Alfred W. Crosby, Ecological Imperialism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 197.

Viola and Margolis, 192.

F. Hodge, "Disabled American Indians: A Special Population Requiring Special Considerations," American Indian Culture and Research Journal 13 (1988), 83-104.

ill….

People From History That Impacted the World in a Positive Way
Three People from History

Three People from History who impacted the World in a Positive Way

Ross Granville Harrison (1807 -- 1959)

Ross Granville Harrison was an American zoologist. He is known for his discovery of a method of growing cells outside of the body. In his famous experiment carried out in 1906 he placed a piece of a frog's embryonic nerve tissue into a drop of frog lymphatic fluid, and saw that the nerve tissue did not die, but rather continued to grow. (Ross Granville Harrison) The method that Harrison developed from this experiment was to form the foundation of the tissue culture technique used in modern medicine and in medical research. This technique has become an extremely important part of contemporary medical research as it allows for "…the study of isolated living cells in a controlled environment." (Ross Granville Harrison).

Harrison….

To write an essay on the impact of contagious diseases, you will want to narrow down the topic.  There are several different types of contagious diseases, and the various pathogens include viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protozoa. Disease can spread in various ways.  The current Covid-19 pandemic is airborne and spreads through both air and touch, but other diseases have been blood borne, sexually transmitted, spread in food, or spread through other vectors, such as mosquitoes. There are also different types of outbreaks of diseases including pandemic, endemic, epidemic, and outbreak.  They have....

Vaccination: A Critical Examination

Introduction

Vaccinations have become an integral part of modern healthcare, effectively preventing the spread of numerous debilitating diseases. However, the safety and efficacy of vaccines have also been subjects of debate, sparking controversy and inspiring a range of essay topics. This essay will explore various aspects of vaccination, providing a comprehensive overview of the arguments surrounding this polarizing issue.

Historical Perspectives on Vaccination

The Evolution of Vaccination: From Smallpox to COVID-19
The Role of Edward Jenner in the Development of the First Vaccine
Vaccination Programs and the Eradication of Polio

Scientific Considerations

The Science Behind Vaccines: Understanding How They Work
....