30 - The Orphan Vaccine

Two hundred years ago, a few doctors, a matron, and 22 orphans set sail in a gutsy attempt to spread the new invention of vaccination across three continents in the world’s first attempt to eliminate smallpox. Learn about their epic journey, the Balmis-Salvany Expedition, as well as the medical context surrounding the invention of vaccination in “The Orphan Vaccine”. Plus, a new #AdamAnswers about why you always get sick when you first go on vacation. You can find all this and more in the latest episode of Bedside Rounds, a tiny podcast about fascinating stories in clinical medicine!

Sources:

• Domingo P, “Smallpox: The triumph over the most terrible of the ministers of death,” Annals of Internal Medicine, November 1997.
• Fenner F et al, “Smallpox and its Eradication,” World Health Organization, 1988,
• Franco-Paredes C, et al. “The Spanish Royal Philanthropic Expedition to Bring Smallpox Vaccination to the New World and Asia in the 19th Century”, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Volume 41, Issue 9, 1 November 2005, Pages 1285–1289
• Hammarsten JF et al, “Who discovered smallpox vaccination? Edward Jenner or Benjamin Jesty?” Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 1979;90:44-55.
• Lipton RB et al, “Reduction in perceived stress as a migraine trigger: testing the ‘let-down headache’ hypothesis,” Neurology. 2014 Apr 22; 82(16): 1395–1401.
• Mark C and Rigau-Peres JG, “The World’s First Immunization Campaign: The Spanish Smallpox Vaccine Expedition, 1803-1813,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Volume 83, Number 1, Spring 2009, pp 63-94.
• Morgan AJ and Poland GA, “The Jenner Society and the Edward Jenner Museum: Tributes to a physician-scientist,” Vaccine, 295 (2011) D152-D154.
• Tuells J. “Francisco Xavier Balmis (1753–1819), a pioneer of international vaccination,” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2002, 56:11.