General Chat

The first every case of monkeypox has been discovered in a naval base in Cornwall the base has not been named but there is only one in Cornwall, the man suffering from it is a Nigerian national and he brought it into the country, he was airlifted to the Royal Free Hospital in London where they deal with tropical diseases.

I've never heard of Monkeypox before

Can't say that I have either.

It did bring to my mind that I have heard that red squirrels carry leprosy and may have been responsible for its prevalence in the middle ages.

Was said Nigerian doing rude things to a monkey then?

Milkmaids used to catch cow pox or was that a load of bull?

You've a brilliant sense of humour Sharron :-D

Sharron ............

you are quite correct, milkmaids did get cowpox from milking.

I believe that is what intrigued Jenner and led to his development of the first vaccine. ............. and I haven't googled anything, so I might have got something wrong ;-)

I haven't Googled either and I think the same as you.

If I remember correctly .............. Jenner realised that milkmaids who had cowpox did not get smallpox, and wondered if they had some sort of protection.

I think that his "vaccine" was live cowpox (got from blisters), and he somehow tried infecting someone who was later exposed to smallpox, and it worked.

I AM trying to think back 50-60 years!!!


Perhaps I should google before I get corrected by someone ;-)

Yeah!!

I'm not going mad or losing my memory!!!!

from Google ................

n 1796, he carried out his now famous experiment on eight-year-old James Phipps. Jenner inserted pus taken from a cowpox pustule and inserted it into an incision on the boy's arm. ... Jenner subsequently proved that having been inoculated with cowpox Phipps was immune to smallpox.

BBC - History - Edward Jenner
www.bbc.com/history/historic_figures/jenner_edward.shtml

I bet you can't remember what you had for breakfast though.

Some think mad cow disease started at # 10 :-S

I have always been a mad cow!

I doubt anyone will agree with you Sharron <3

I will because I am too ;-) :-D :-D :-D

Okay now you're all milking it for humour....

We all deserve a pat on the head!

Tell me an udder :-D :-D :-D

Before Jenner the idea already existed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Mary_Wortley_Montagu#Ottoman_smallpox_inoculation

AFAIK young people are no longer immunised against smalloox but do get chirckenpox jabs.
.
Given the inclinations of some terrorist groups and what was once the USSR I am not sure this is a good idea. The virus still exists at three labs in the Uk, USA and Russia.

It is also feared to exist in corpses frozen in the ground which could become exposed.

People in England were often not vaccinated against smallpox for a long time.

It was not one of the vaccinations that I received as a child, and I did have the full complement that was available, including polio (on sugar cubes!) when I was about 18.

I had to have a smallpox vaccination done before I left England, in my late twenties.

It was not common here in the 70s, daughter was required to have it when we were going to live in Australia, but our doctor refused as she had a small patch of eczema on her leg. He had to write a letter explaining that, and then a poor doctor in Perth had to be roused in the middle of the night to come out to the airport, read the letter and check her out.

Once he approved her entry, we were allowed to enter Australia, and re-board the plane to go on to Melbourne!