Jenner, Edward
| Edward Jenner |
Jenner in the prime of his studies
|
| Born |
17 May 1749
Berkeley, Gloucestershire |
| Died |
26 January 1823(1823-01-26) (aged 73)
Berkeley, Gloucestershire |
| Residence |
Berkeley, Gloucestershire |
| Nationality |
United Kingdom |
| Fields |
Microbiology |
| Alma mater |
St George's, University of London |
| Doctoral advisor |
John Hunter |
| Known for |
Smallpox vaccine |
Edward Anthony Jenner (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was an English scientist who studied his natural surroundings in Berkeley, Gloucestershire. Jenner is widely credited as the pioneer of smallpox vaccine, and is sometimes referred to as the "Father of Immunology". Jenner's works "have saved more lives than the work of any other man".[1][2][3]
[edit] Early life
Edward Jenner was born on 17 May 1749 (6 May Old Style) in Berkeley. Jenner trained in Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire as an apprentice to Daniel Ludlow, a surgeon, for eight years from the age of 14. In 1770 Jenner went up to surgery and anatomy under the surgeon John Hunter and others at St George's Hospital.
William Osler records that Jenner was a student to whom Hunter repeated William Harvey's advice, very famous in medical circles (and characteristically Enlightenment), "Don't think, try".[4] Jenner therefore was early noticed by famous men for advancing the practice and institutions of surgery. Hunter remained in correspondence with him over natural history and proposed him for the Royal Society. Returning to his native countryside by 1773 he became a successful general practitioner and surgeon, practicing in purpose-built premises at Berkeley.
Jenner and others formed a medical society in Rodborough, Gloucestershire, meeting to read papers on medical subjects and dine together. Jenner contributed papers on angina. This was the Fleece Medical Society or Gloucestershire Medical Society, so called as it met in the parlor of the Fleece Inn, Rodborough.
[edit] Smallpox
In this time smallpox was greatly feared, as one in three of those who contracted the disease died, and those who survived were often badly disfigured. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu discovered the Ottoman Empire concept of variolation during her 1716-1718 stint in Istanbul, and brought the idea back to Britain. Voltaire, a few years later, recorded that 60% of people caught smallpox, with 20% of the population dying of it. In the years following 1770 there were at least six people in England and Germany (Sevel, Jensen, Jesty 1774, Rendell, Plett 1791) who had successfully tested the possibility of using the cowpox vaccine as an immunization for smallpox in humans.[5] For example, Dorset farmer Benjamin Jesty[6] had successfully vaccinated and presumably induced immunity in his wife and two children with cowpox during a smallpox epidemic in 1774, but it was not until Jenner's work some twenty years later that the procedure became widely understood. Indeed, Jenner may have been aware of Jesty's procedures and success.[7]
| Jenner's Initial Theory: |
| The initial source of infection was a disease of horses, called "the grease", and that this was transferred to cows by farm workers, transformed, and then manifested as cowpox. |
Noting the common observation that milkmaids did not generally get smallpox, Jenner theorized that the pus in the blisters which milkmaids received from cowpox (a disease similar to smallpox, but much less virulent) protected the milkmaids from smallpox. He may have had the advantage of hearing stories of Benjamin Jesty and others who deliberately arranged cowpox infection of their families, and then noticed a reduced smallpox risk in those families.
On 14 May 1796, Jenner tested his hypothesis by inoculating James Phipps, a young boy of 8 years (the son of Jenner's gardener), with material from the cowpox blisters of the hand of Sarah Nelmes, a milkmaid who had caught cowpox from a cow called Blossom,[8] whose hide hangs on the wall of the library at St George's medical school (now in Tooting). Blossom's hide commemorates one of the school's most renowned alumni. Phipps was the 17th case described in Jenner's first paper on vaccination.
Jenner inoculated Phipps with cowpox pus in both arms on the same day. The inoculation was accomplished by scraping the pus from Nelmes' blisters onto a piece of wood then transferring this to Phipps' arms. This produced a fever and some uneasiness but no great illness. Later, he injected Phipps with variolous material, which would have been the routine attempt to produce immunity at that time. No disease had followed. Jenner reported that later the boy was again challenged with variolous material and again showed no sign of infection.
| Known: |
| Smallpox is more dangerous than variolation and cowpox less dangerous than variolation. |
| Hypothesis: |
| Infection with cowpox gives immunity to smallpox. |
| Test: |
| If variolation after infection with cowpox fails to produce a smallpox infection, immunity to smallpox has been achieved. |
| Consequence: |
| Immunity to smallpox can be induced much more safely than by variolation. |
Ronald Hopkins states: "Jenner's unique contribution was not that he inoculated a few persons with cowpox, but that he then proved they were immune to smallpox. Moreover, he demonstrated that the protective cowpox could be effectively inoculated from person to person, not just directly from cattle.[9] In addition he tested his theory on a series of 23 subjects. This aspect of his research method increased the validity of his evidence.
He continued his research and reported it to the Royal Society, who did not publish the initial report. After improvement and further work, he published a report of twenty-three cases. Some of his conclusions were correct, and some erroneous – modern microbiological and microscopic methods would make this easier to repeat. The medical establishment, as cautious then as now, considered his findings for some time before accepting them. Eventually vaccination was accepted, and in 1840 the British government banned variolation – the use of smallpox itself – and provided vaccination – using cowpox – free of charge. (See Vaccination acts)
1802 caricature of Jenner vaccinating patients who feared it would make them sprout cowlike appendages.
Jenner's continuing work on vaccination prevented his continuing his ordinary medical practice. He was supported by his colleagues and the King in petitioning Parliament and was granted £10,000 for his work on vaccination. In 1806 he was granted another £20,000 for his continuing work.
In 1803 in London he became involved with the Jennerian Institution, a society concerned with promoting vaccination to eradicate smallpox. In 1808, with government aid, this society became the National Vaccine Establishment. Jenner became a member of the Medical and Chirurgical Society on its foundation in 1805, and subsequently presented to them a number of papers. This is now the Royal Society of Medicine. In 1806, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Returning to London in 1811 he observed a significant number of cases of smallpox after vaccination occurring. He found that in these cases the severity of the illness was notably diminished by the previous vaccination. In 1821 he was appointed Physician Extraordinary to King George IV, a considerable national honour, and was made Mayor of Berkeley and Justice of the Peace. He continued his interests in natural history. In 1823, the last year of his life, he presented his Observations on the Migration of Birds to the Royal Society.
Jenner was found in a state of apoplexy on 25 January 1823, with his right side paralysed. He never fully recovered, and eventually died of an apparent stroke (he had suffered a previous stroke) on 26 January 1823, aged 73. He was survived by one son and one daughter, his elder son having died of tuberculosis at the age of 21.
His original report is in the Royal College of Surgeons (London)
[edit]
On Dec. 1st 1796, Dr. John Clinch, a medical missionary at Trinity, then the second largest settlement in Newfoundland, sent a letter to Dr. Edward Jenner in Gloucestershire. Clinch asked for further information about using cowpox pustule matter as a vaccination against smallpox. Jenner had vaccinated his first subject only 6 months earlier. By June 1800, when Jenner published his famous pamphlet, An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae, describing his vaccination experiments on 23 subjects, Clinch probably had been vaccinating people in Newfoundland for a year or more.
Jenner and Clinch, both born in 1749, had been classmates at Reverend Dr. Washbourn’s school in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, before they went to London together to be pupils of the distinguished surgeon John Hunter. Jenner returned to his home area, but Clinch practised 3 years in Dorset near Poole, the main shipping port for Newfoundland. In 1775 Clinch moved to Newfoundland to practise in Bonavista. After 8 years he moved to Trinity, where he also preached the Anglican sermons on Sundays. Jenner’s nephew, George Jenner, aiming for a similar church–medicine career, very likely began his medical apprenticeship under Clinch at Trinity in 1789
On July 15, 1800, a second shipment of vaccine from Edward Jenner reached Clinch; one of these two vaccine shipments, most likely the first, came via George Jenner, by then the Anglican minister at Harbour Grace, on the intervening peninsula between Trinity and St. John’s. By the first week of October 1800 Clinch had vaccinated additional people in the adjacent settlements of St. John’s and Portugal Cove, and by the end of 1801 he had vaccinated 700 people.
William R. LeFanu’s definitive bibliography of Jenner credits Clinch with being the first vaccinator in North America, before Benjamin Waterhouse, who vaccinated his own sons in July 1800 and then popularized vaccination in Boston. Sadly, exact dates for Clinch’s first vaccinations are unavailable for conclusive proof of his priority. Clinch is honoured by a memorial plaque in Trinity. (This section reproduced from John W.R. McIntyre, MB BS; C. Stuart Houston, MD 'Smallpox and its Control in Canada'. CMAJ 14th Dec 1999)
[edit] Legacy
In 1979, the World Health Organization declared smallpox an eradicated disease. This was the result of coordinated public health efforts by many people, but vaccination was an essential component. And although it was declared eradicated, some samples still remain in laboratories in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States, and State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR in Koltsovo, Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia.
The importance of his work does not stop there. His vaccine also laid the groundwork for modern-day discoveries in immunology, and the field he began may someday lead to cures for arthritis, AIDS, and many other diseases of the time.[10]
[edit] Monuments
Bronze in Kensington Gardens
- Jenner's house is now a small museum housing among other things the horns of the cow, Blossom. It lies in the village of Berkeley, Gloucestershire.
- Jenner was buried in the chancel of the parish church of Berkeley[citation needed].
- A statue, by Robert William Sievier, was erected in the nave of Gloucester Cathedral.
- A statue was erected in Trafalgar Square, later moved to Kensington Gardens.[11]
- Near the small Gloucestershire village of Uley, Downham Hill is locally known as 'Smallpox Hill', with a possible connection to Jenner's local work with the disease.
- St George's, University of London has a wing named after him as well as a bust of him.[12]
- A small grouping of villages in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States, were named in honour of Jenner by early 19th century English settlers, including what are now the towns of Jenners, Jenner Township, Jenner Crossroads and Jennerstown, Pennsylvania.
- There is a section at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital known as the Edward Jenner Ward where blood is taken specifically
- Also a ward at Northwick Park Hospital is named after him, called Jenner Ward
[edit] Publications
- 1798 An Inquiry Into the Causes and Effects of the Variolæ Vaccinæ
- 1799 Further Observations on the Variolœ Vaccinœ
- 1800 A Continuation of Facts and Observations relative to the Variolœ Vaccinœ 40pgs
- 1801 The Origin of the Vaccine Inoculation 12pgs
[edit] See also
- Vaccine
- Vaccination
- Inoculation
- History of science
[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
- Papers at the Royal College of Physicians
- Baron, John M.D. F.R.S., "The Life of Edward Jenner MD LLD FRS", Henry Colburn, London, 1827.
- Baron, John, "The Life of Edward Jenner with illustrations of his doctrines and selections from his correspondence". Two volumes. London 1838.
- Edward Jenner, the man and his work. BMJ 1949 E Ashworth Underwood
- Fisher, Richard B., "Edward Jenner 1749-1823," Andre Deutsch, London, 1991.
- Cartwright K (October 2005). "From Jenner to modern smallpox vaccines". Occupational Medicine 55 (7): 563. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqi163. PMID 16251374.
- Riedel S (January 2005). "Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination". Proceedings 18 (1): 21–5. PMID 16200144.
- Tan SY (November 2004). "Edward Jenner (1749-1823): conqueror of smallpox". Singapore Medical Journal 45 (11): 507–8. PMID 15510320. http://www.sma.org.sg/smj/4511/4511ms1.pdf.
- van Oss CJ (November 2000). "Inoculation against smallpox as the precursor to vaccination". Immunological Investigations 29 (4): 443–6. PMID 11130785.
- Gross CP, Sepkowitz KA (1998). "The myth of the medical breakthrough: smallpox, vaccination, and Jenner reconsidered". International Journal of Infectious Diseases 3 (1): 54–60. doi:10.1016/S1201-9712(98)90096-0. PMID 9831677.
- Willis NJ (August 1997). "Edward Jenner and the eradication of smallpox". Scottish Medical Journal 42 (4): 118–21. PMID 9507590.
- Theves G (1997). "Smallpox: an historical review [Smallpox: an historical review]" (in German). Bulletin De La Société Des Sciences Médicales Du Grand-Duché De Luxembourg 134 (1): 31–51. PMID 9303824.
- Kempa ME (December 1996). "Edward Jenner (1749-1823)--benefactor to mankind (100th anniversary of the first vaccination against smallpox) [Edward Jenner (1749-1823)--benefactor to mankind (100th anniversary of the first vaccination against smallpox)]" (in Polish). Polski Merkuriusz Lekarski 1 (6): 433–4. PMID 9273243.
- Baxby D (November 1996). "The Jenner bicentenary: the introduction and early distribution of smallpox vaccine". FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology 16 (1): 1–10. doi:10.1111/j.1574-695X.1996.tb00105.x. PMID 8954347.
- Larner AJ (September 1996). "Smallpox". The New England Journal of Medicine 335 (12): 901; author reply 902. PMID 8778627.
- Aly A, Aly S (September 1996). "Smallpox". The New England Journal of Medicine 335 (12): 900–1; author reply 902. doi:10.1056/NEJM199609193351217. PMID 8778626.
- Magner J (September 1996). "Smallpox". The New England Journal of Medicine 335 (12): 900. doi:10.1056/NEJM199609193351217. PMID 8778624.
- Kumate-Rodríguez J (1996). "Bicentennial of smallpox vaccine: experiences and lessons [Bicentennial of smallpox vaccine: experiences and lessons]" (in Spanish). Salud Pública De México 38 (5): 379–85. PMID 9092091.
- Budai J (August 1996). "200th anniversary of the Jenner smallpox vaccine [200th anniversary of the Jenner smallpox vaccine]" (in Hungarian). Orvosi Hetilap 137 (34): 1875–7. PMID 8927342.
- Rathbone J (June 1996). "Lady Mary Wortley Montague's contribution to the eradication of smallpox". Lancet 347 (9014): 1566. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(96)90724-2. PMID 8684145.
- Baxby D (June 1996). "The Jenner bicentenary; still uses for smallpox vaccine". Epidemiology and Infection 116 (3): 231–4. doi:10.1017/S0950268800052523. PMID 8666065.
- Cook GC (May 1996). "Dr William Woodville (1752-1805) and the St Pancras Smallpox Hospital". Journal of Medical Biography 4 (2): 71–8. PMID 11616267.
- Baxby D (1996). "Jenner and the control of smallpox". Transactions of the Medical Society of London 113: 18–22. PMID 10326082.
- Dunn PM (January 1996). "Dr Edward Jenner (1749-1823) of Berkeley, and vaccination against smallpox". Archives of Disease in Childhood 74 (1): F77–8. PMID 8653442. PMC 2528332. http://fn.bmj.com/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=8653442.
- Meynell E (August 1995). "French reactions to Jenner's discovery of smallpox vaccination: the primary sources". Social History of Medicine 8 (2): 285–303. doi:10.1093/shm/8.2.285. PMID 11639810.
- Bloch H (July 1993). "Edward Jenner (1749-1823). The history and effects of smallpox, inoculation, and vaccination". American Journal of Diseases of Children 147 (7): 772–4. PMID 8322750.
- Roses DF (October 1992). "From Hunter and the Great Pox to Jenner and smallpox". Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics 175 (4): 365–72. PMID 1411896.
- Turk JL, Allen E (April 1990). "The influence of John Hunter's inoculation practice on Edward Jenner's discovery of vaccination against smallpox". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 83 (4): 266–7. PMID 2187990.Books By This Author
