Variolation was the method of inoculation first used to immunize individuals against smallpox (Variola) with material taken from a patient or a recently variolated individual, in the hope that a mild, but protective, infection would result. Only 1–2% of those variolated died from the intentional infection compared to 30% who contracted smallpox naturally.[1] Variolation is no longer used today. It was replaced by the smallpox vaccine, a safer alternative. This in turn led to the development of the many vaccines now available against other diseases.
The procedure was most commonly carried out by inserting/rubbing powdered smallpox scabs or fluid from pustules into superficial scratches made in the skin. The virus was normally spread through the air, infecting first the mouth, nose, or respiratory tract, before spreading throughout the body via the lymphatic system. In contrast, infection of the skin usually led to a milder, localized infection, but, crucially, still induced immunity to the virus. The patient would develop pustules like those caused by naturally acquired smallpox. Eventually, after about two to four weeks, these symptoms would subside, indicating successful recovery and immunity.[citation needed]
The method was first used in China, India, parts of Africa and the Middle East before it was introduced into England and North America in the 1720s in the face of some opposition. However, inoculation had been reported in Wales since the early 17th century.
Variolation was the method of inoculation first used to immunize individuals against smallpox (Variola) with material taken from a patient or a recently...
as variolation, was first practiced in China in the 10th century. Methods of carrying out the procedure varied depending upon location. Variolation was...
flourishing variolation practice, may have considered this option but used smallpox instead. He thought vaccination offered no advantage over variolation, but...
inoculation was most likely smallpox, with the first recorded use of variolation occurring in the 16th century in China. It was also the first disease...
natural infection. Until the early 1800s inoculation referred only to variolation (from the Latin word variola = smallpox), the predecessor to the smallpox...
Berkeley's School and in Cirencester. During this time, he was inoculated (by variolation) for smallpox, which had a lifelong effect upon his general health. At...
earliest recorded artificial induction of immunity in humans was by variolation or inoculation, which is the controlled infection of a subject with a...
fleeces on their backs imaginable." The concept of preventing smallpox by variolation was introduced to colonial America by an African slave named Onesimus...
could be prevented by deliberate variolation with smallpox virus. The earliest hints of the practice of variolation for smallpox in China come during...
By the late 16th century, there existed some forms of inoculation and variolation in Africa and the Middle East. One practice features Arab traders in...
later called variolation to avoid confusion with cowpox inoculation (vaccination) when that was introduced by Edward Jenner. Although variolation had a long...
smallpox was inoculation with variola minor virus (a method later known as variolation after the introduction of smallpox vaccine to avoid possible confusion)...
the point of eradication in the 1970s." The advent of vaccination, or variolation in China and Japan during the middle ages, could have altered the relative...
Griffiths, J. (1984). "Doctor Thomas Dimsdale, and Smallpox in Russia: The Variolation of the Empress Catherine the Great". Bristol Medico-Chirurgical Journal...
of inoculation, and she had the royal children undergo the procedure. Variolation, its precursor, was popularised in Britain when the daughters of King...
inoculation (then called variolation) to prevent smallpox, arranged for seven prisoners who had been sentenced to death to undergo variolation in exchange for...
smallpox vaccine at the end of the 18th century (inspired by the method of variolation originated in ancient China), Robert Koch's discoveries around 1880 of...
been known for a long time for smallpox. Inoculation with smallpox (variolation) was known to result in a much less severe disease, and greatly reduced...
18th century, Europeans began an experiment known as inoculation or variolation to prevent, not cure the smallpox. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu defied convention...
AD, Chinese were the first to develop a form of vaccination, known as variolation or inoculation, to prevent smallpox. Chinese physicians had realised...
of the tumor. 1549 – The earliest account of inoculation of smallpox (variolation) occurs in Wan Quan's (1499–1582) Douzhen Xinfa (痘疹心法). 1718 – Smallpox...
inoculated against smallpox by an early type of immunisation known as variolation, which had been brought to England from Constantinople by Lady Mary Wortley...
method for inoculating people against smallpox than the previous method, variolation, which had a 3% fatality rate.[citation needed] In a famous letter to...
the direction of her mother, she was inoculated against smallpox by variolation, an early type of immunisation popularised by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu...
contracted smallpox in his youth. This led him to take part in the debate on variolation against the disease and to propagate inoculation against smallpox. Assisted...
Global Information