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Start Over Subjects Physicians--Virginia--Lynchburg.
Library of Virginia

Lynchburg (Va.) Smallpox Vaccination Report, 1838 June 4

2 leaves

Lynchburg (Va.) Smallpox Vaccination Report dates from 1838 June 4. The report was sent to the Mayor and Aldermen of the city's Corporation Court by a physician appointed by the court to treat the city's smallpox victims. The report offers an excellent example of the "arm to arm" process used to treat the disease. Variolation was used into the twentieth century, especially in poorer communities, although in the nineteenth century many physicians switched to vaccinating with the related, but much less harmful, vaccinia virus. With both viruses, scabs were a useful tool: doctors carried them around in their cases and the scabs could even be mailed. Scabs are extremely useful tools. Studying the virus's evolution could reveal when its ancestor emerged from an animal, or whether poxviruses have evolutionary tricks for stepping up potency, which may be relevant when studying viruses such as monkeypox, which is of increasing concern in Africa.

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Lynchburg (Va.) Smallpox Vaccination Report, 1838 June 4 2 leaves

Lynchburg (Va.) Circuit Court.

Lynchburg (Va.) Smallpox Vaccination Report dates from 1838 June 4. The report was sent to the Mayor and Aldermen of the city's Corporation Court by a physician appointed by the court to treat the city's smallpox victims. The report offers an excellent example of the "arm to arm" process used to treat the disease. Variolation was used into the twentieth century, especially in poorer communities, although in the nineteenth century many physicians switched to vaccinating with the related, but much less harmful, vaccinia virus. With both viruses, scabs were a useful tool: doctors carried them around in their cases and the scabs could even be mailed. Scabs are extremely useful tools. Studying the virus's evolution could reveal when its ancestor emerged from an animal, or whether poxviruses have evolutionary tricks for stepping up potency, which may be relevant when studying viruses such as monkeypox, which is of increasing concern in Africa.

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