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The Chinese practiced the oldest documented use of variolation, dating back to the 16th century, and according to some sources the 11th century. [3] They implemented a method of "nasal insufflation" administered by blowing powdered smallpox material, usually scabs, up the nostrils.
The smallpox vaccine is used to prevent smallpox infection caused by the variola virus. [10] It is the first vaccine to have been developed against a contagious disease. In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the relatively mild cowpox virus conferred immunity against the deadly smallpox virus.
Variolation was the sole method of protection against smallpox other than quarantine until Edward Jenner's discovery of the inoculating abilities of cowpox against the smallpox virus in 1796. Efforts to protect populations against smallpox by way of vaccination followed for centuries after Jenner's discovery.
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. [7] [11] The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) certified the global eradication of the disease in 1980, [10] making smallpox the only human disease to have been eradicated to date.
Variolation was known as inoculation in Massachusetts during this time period. This is a procedure that can be performed a few different ways. They all included taking scabs or pus from someone who had natural smallpox.
From these accounts, it is known that the Chinese banned the practice of using smallpox material from patients who actually had the full-blown disease of Variola major (considered too dangerous); instead they used proxy material of a cotton plug inserted into the nose of a person who had already been inoculated and had only a few scabs, i.e ...
Around 900–1000 AD, Chinese were the first to develop a form of vaccination, known as variolation or inoculation, to prevent smallpox. Chinese physicians had realised that when healthy people were exposed to smallpox scab tissue, they had a smaller chance of being infected by the disease later on.
The Chinese also practiced the oldest documented use of variolation, which comes from Wan Quan's (1499–1582) Douzhen Xinfa (痘疹心法) of 1549. They implemented a method of "nasal insufflation " administered by blowing powdered smallpox material, usually scabs, up the nostrils.