A woman with smallpox in Prince Edward Island, c. 1909.
Smallpox is an infectious disease most commonly caused by the variola major virus. Its symptoms include fever, headache, vomiting, mouth sores and an extensive skin rash. The rash blistersand scabs, leaving pitted scars or pocks. Smallpox can cause pneumonia, blindness, and infection in joints and bones. There is also a less virulent form of smallpox called alastrim, caused by the variola minor virus.
Smallpox spreads in saliva droplets and through contact with the infectious rash. It can be passed between people and from contaminated objects to people. The rate of death from variola major is 30 per cent but from variola minor it is 1 per cent or less.
Smallpox crossed the Atlantic Ocean when European empires began to expand in the 16th century. The disease had long decimated populations and caused terror. It was first reported in New France in 1616 near Tadoussac, the colonys first fur-trading post. The budding fur trade repeatedlyexposed nearbyInnu and Algonquin communities to the disease. Many fell ill and died due to their lackof immunity. The disease spread into the Maritime,James Bay and Great Lakes regions.
Between 1634 and 1640, Jesuit priests introduced smallpox into Wendake (Huronia),west of Lake Simcoe and south of Georgian Bay. Priests insisted on baptizing sick and dyingHuron-Wendat.However,the priests presence contributed to the spread of the disease. Due to smallpox and other infectious diseases, the Huron-Wendat population declined by roughly 60 per cent by 1640.
Smallpox played a large role in the struggles between the French, British and Americans to control the St. Lawrence region. In 173233, a smallpox epidemic swept through Louisbourg, a French settlement in what is now Nova Scotia. It killed at least 150 people, including people the French had enslaved and brought to the colony. Another epidemic hit Louisbourg in 1755. This was the worst epidemic in New France. It was part of a larger epidemic that swept acrossNorth America between 1755 and 1782. During the Seven Years War, an outbreak forced de Vaudreuil,the French commander, to delay his invasion of Fort Oswego in what is now New York State. In 1763, the British under Jeffrey Amherst used blankets exposedto smallpox as germ warfare in an attempt to subdue the First Nations resistance led byObwandiyag (Pontiac). In 1775, during theAmerican Revolution,American troops besiegingQuebec City were stricken with smallpox.
As European fur-trading posts moved west, so did the virus. From 1779 to 1783, smallpox spread to areas that now form parts of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Some communities of Plains Indigenous peoples lost 75 per centor more of their members. It is estimated that more than half of First Nations people living along the Saskatchewan River(territory of the Nehiyawak, Saulteaux, Assiniboine and Niitsitapi) died of smallpox orepidemic-related starvation.
In 1838, a second smallpox epidemic struck the Prairies. The epidemic began with an infected person aboard an American Fur Company steamship on the Missouri River. The captain refusedto halt or quarantine the ship. The virus eventually reached Forts Union and McKenzie, in what is now North Dakota and Montana. Traders representing various nations, including the Assiniboine and Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), frequented the affected American trading posts.
Hudsons Bay Company employees started giving inoculations and teaching the technique to others after the two Prairie epidemics. Smallpox changed power structures andalliances, as well as land use and occupancy. Some distinct cultural groups disappeared as almost all of their members died. Survivors sometimes joined other ethnic groups.
Mtis communities in what is now central Alberta experienced a smallpox outbreak in 1870. St. Alberts Mtis populationdeclined by roughly 37 per cent that year.
Smallpox first reached the Pacific Northwest in the late 18th century. In the late 1770s, the disease killed many members of Tlingit, Haida,Kwakwakawakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, Salish and Ktunaxacommunities. In 1782, roughly two-thirds of the St:l population died after contracting smallpox.
In 1862, a person infected with smallpox arrived in Victoria aboard a steamship travelling from San Francisco. The disease spread to an encampment north of the city, where tradersfrom many First Nations stayed. The few efforts colonists made to control the disease were disorganized. Some demanded the eviction of Indigenous people from colonial communities to protect themselves from the disease. When the residents of the north encampment left for their homelands, the disease spread across the colonies of Vancouver Islandand British Columbia. The disease had devastating impacts on many peoples, including the nations of Kwakwakawakw, Tlingit, Heiltsuk, Haida, Tsimshianand Tilhqotin, as well as some Coast Salish and Interior Salish nations. On the coast alone, some 14,000 Indigenous people died, representing a loss of roughly half of the regions population.
The1862 epidemic left mass gravesites, empty settlements and grieving survivors. It also impacted governance in some nations. Stories, knowledge and skills were lost with those who carried them. The massive population decline paved the way for coloniststo move further into Indigenous lands without establishing treaty relations. Fear ofsmallpox was one cause of the Chilcotin War of 1864 (see Tilhqotin).
Beginning in 1768, arm-to-arm variolation, an inoculation using the live smallpox virus, became more widely practised in North America and helped limit the spread of the disease. Reverend John Clinch introduced a safer vaccine in North America in 1798.After Confederation, the provinces made it mandatory to vaccinate schoolchildren. They also passed laws allowing municipalities and townships to carry out general vaccinationwhen an epidemic threatened. However, many people opposed mandatory vaccination. Anti-vaccinationists were critical of the unclean administration of vaccines and viewed vaccines asa way for public health units to avoid more costly sanitary measures. Some believed that vaccines would cause illness and suffering. Anti-vaccinationists also viewed mandatoryvaccination as a breach of individual rights. Many French Canadians in Montreal opposed vaccination during a major smallpox outbreak in 1885.Riots broke out in the city, in part as a response to officials attempts to enforce control measures.
Modern smallpox vaccine production began in Canada in 1916. Nevertheless, a notable outbreak occurred in Windsor, Ontarioin 1924. Sixty-seven unvaccinated people contracted the disease and thirty-two died. Smallpox persisted in Canada until 1946, when vaccination campaigns eliminated it. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared it globally eradicated in 1979 aftera 10-year campaign in South America, Africa and Asia. Smallpox is the first major disease to have been wiped out by public health measures.
Canadian scientists played a key role in the eradication. Connaught Laboratories, based in Palmerston, Ontario, consulted on vaccine production across the Americas.Between 1980 and 2001, Connaught and its successors kept smallpox samples in a deep-freeze in case the vaccine was needed in the future. After 9/11, in the context of new fearsof bioterrorism, pharmaceutical company Aventis Pasteur retrieved the stocks to create a new stockpile of the vaccine.
Go here to see the original:
Smallpox in Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia
- biological weapon | Britannica.com [Last Updated On: June 12th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 12th, 2016]
- Biological warfare - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: June 12th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 12th, 2016]
- Germ Warfare Against America: Part IIIb - U.S. Government ... [Last Updated On: June 12th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 12th, 2016]
- Germ Warfare | Definition of Germ Warfare by Merriam-Webster [Last Updated On: June 13th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 13th, 2016]
- The History Of Germ Warfare - Very Long, Very Deadly [Last Updated On: June 17th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 17th, 2016]
- Germ Warfare | Germ Warfare Definition by Merriam-Webster [Last Updated On: June 19th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 19th, 2016]
- History of biological warfare - Wikipedia, the free ... [Last Updated On: June 28th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 28th, 2016]
- Colloidal Silver and Biological (Germ) Warfare [Last Updated On: June 30th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 30th, 2016]
- Coconut Oil: Germ Warfare! | Underground Wellness [Last Updated On: July 3rd, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 3rd, 2016]
- Coconut Oil: Germ Warfare! | Underground Wellness [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2016]
- Articles about Germ Warfare - latimes [Last Updated On: July 14th, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 14th, 2016]
- "M*A*S*H" Germ Warfare (TV Episode 1972) - IMDb [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2016]
- Germ Warfare Against America: Part I What Is Gulf War ... [Last Updated On: August 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 21st, 2016]
- Clouds of Secrecy: The Army's Germ Warfare Tests Over ... [Last Updated On: September 8th, 2016] [Originally Added On: September 8th, 2016]
- Germ Warfare - No Sweat [Last Updated On: September 29th, 2016] [Originally Added On: September 29th, 2016]
- Unit 731 - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: November 14th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 14th, 2016]
- Germ warfare - mutant bugs could wipe out human life [Last Updated On: January 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: January 26th, 2017]
- Germ warfare: the battle for the key to modern vaccines - The Guardian [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Germ Warfare - Zip06.com [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- 'Ideation' is complex, convoluted, not-so-funny satire - Marinscope Community Newspapers [Last Updated On: February 24th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 24th, 2017]
- Biopreparat - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: February 24th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 24th, 2017]
- The Vaccine Race: How Scientists Used Human Cells to Combat ... - The Guardian [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- We're 'in touch' every day with things that can make us sick - Williamsport Sun-Gazette [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- Killen Church Youth Taking Out Germs - courierjournal [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- Getting ready for a global pandemic - Amandala [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- Ed Vasicek: The ever-surfacing future has arrived - Kokomo Tribune [Last Updated On: March 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 2nd, 2017]
- A human pinball in a germ warfare experiment - Varsity Online [Last Updated On: March 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 7th, 2017]
- US Navy Film Reveals Crazy Cold War Chemical Weapons Plans - The National Interest Online (blog) [Last Updated On: March 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 12th, 2017]
- John Wayne: Stalin's Target - The Liberty Conservative [Last Updated On: March 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 17th, 2017]
- Sweden preparing nuclear fallout bunkers across the country amid fear of Russian war - The Sun [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2017]
- Valley Hawks, Fighting Poets, others who will replace Lord Jeff? - Amherst Bulletin [Last Updated On: March 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 23rd, 2017]
- Base X: The Isle of Anthrax - Discover Magazine (blog) [Last Updated On: April 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 2nd, 2017]
- Amherst College announces the Mammoths as first official mascot ... - Boston.com [Last Updated On: April 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 5th, 2017]
- If Assad doesn't suffer for using chems, the whole world pays - New York Post [Last Updated On: April 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 7th, 2017]
- Letter: Protect the public health officials who protect us - Republican Eagle [Last Updated On: April 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 7th, 2017]
- Could The Global Community Coexist With A Nuclear Pyongyang? - Daily Caller [Last Updated On: April 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 7th, 2017]
- Geoffrey Norman: What Next? After The Syrian Strike - Caledonian Record [Last Updated On: April 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 10th, 2017]
- The superpower's dilemma - The Guardian (Australia) [Last Updated On: April 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 12th, 2017]
- This Day in History - Jamaica Observer [Last Updated On: April 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 12th, 2017]
- The 1917 Immigration Act That Presaged Trump's Muslim Ban - JSTOR Daily [Last Updated On: April 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 14th, 2017]
- Creative Secrets From The Advantages Product Video Winner - Advertising Specialty Institute (press release) [Last Updated On: April 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 14th, 2017]
- Mar-a-Lago Kitchen Doubles As Germ Warfare Research Lab, Say Big Gubmint 'Health Inspectors' - Wonkette (blog) [Last Updated On: April 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 14th, 2017]
- Trump like all the rest - Washington Times [Last Updated On: April 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 17th, 2017]
- WWII: Doolittle Raid Doomed Japanese Empire - Scout [Last Updated On: April 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 17th, 2017]
- Reader's View: 'Continual warfare' needs to end - Lake Geneva Regional News [Last Updated On: April 19th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 19th, 2017]
- South Korea Should Give U.S. Troops the Boot - MWC News (satire) (registration) (blog) [Last Updated On: April 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 25th, 2017]
- Why Does North Korea Want Nukes? | Global Research - Centre for ... - Center for Research on Globalization [Last Updated On: April 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 25th, 2017]
- Plastics will be part of solutions in the future - Plastics News [Last Updated On: April 27th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 27th, 2017]
- How US presidents prepare for the end of the world - Washington Post [Last Updated On: April 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 28th, 2017]
- Endless Atrocities: The US Role in Creating the North Korean Fortress-State - Center for Research on Globalization [Last Updated On: April 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 28th, 2017]
- What Did You Do During the Great Chemical War, Grandpa? - Bloomberg [Last Updated On: May 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 2nd, 2017]
- We're The Rats: Theo Anthony's film-essay "Rat Film" frames what's wrong with Baltimore through its vermin - Baltimore City Paper [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2017]
- Stan Statham: My take on biological weapons - Red Bluff Daily News [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2017]
- Book World: How US presidents prepare for the end of the world - The Edwardsville Intelligencer [Last Updated On: May 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 6th, 2017]
- Book review: How U.S. presidents prepare for the end of the world - Pocono Record [Last Updated On: May 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 6th, 2017]
- Zika a virus transferable to primates - Valley morning Star [Last Updated On: May 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 9th, 2017]
- When Posters Were the Samizdat of the Lower East Side - New York Times [Last Updated On: May 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 18th, 2017]
- The True Story of Brainwashing and How It Shaped America - Smithsonian [Last Updated On: May 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 23rd, 2017]
- Doolittle raid gave America a boost - Nevada Appeal [Last Updated On: May 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 28th, 2017]
- Greatness and sliced bread: a match gone stale - Toledo Blade [Last Updated On: May 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 28th, 2017]
- Cyber-attacks - Kuwait Times | Kuwait Times - Kuwait Times [Last Updated On: May 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 30th, 2017]
- Ian Mulgrew: B.C. Law Society boosters of the Begbie brush-off - Edmonton Journal [Last Updated On: May 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 30th, 2017]
- Museum honoring San Jose author of 'Rape of Nanking' Iris Chang opens in China - The Mercury News [Last Updated On: May 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 30th, 2017]
- Ian Mulgrew: B.C. Law Society boosters of the Begbie brush-off - The Province [Last Updated On: June 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 1st, 2017]
- Nuclear war: the US took a highly bureaucratic response to preparing for it - The Australian Financial Review [Last Updated On: June 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 9th, 2017]
- Shoemaker: Seeing a tragedy or a mere statistic? - MetroWest Daily News [Last Updated On: June 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 11th, 2017]
- LETTER: Process of forgetting simply facilitated - The Guardian [Last Updated On: June 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 14th, 2017]
- 'New' way to look at smallpox - Fiji Times [Last Updated On: June 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 15th, 2017]
- I meant every word - Fort Madison Daily Democrat [Last Updated On: June 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 15th, 2017]
- GERM WARFARE - Carpet Cleaning and Upholstery Cleaning [Last Updated On: June 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 15th, 2017]
- What Do We Celebrate? - The Runner [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2017]
- We'll pass on the Liberal Lollapalooza - Net Newsledger [Last Updated On: June 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 18th, 2017]
- Whom Are You Fooling?The Jewish Press | Rabbi Dani Staum | 30 ... - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com [Last Updated On: June 24th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 24th, 2017]
- Military Tested Germ Warfare on San Francisco and Other ... [Last Updated On: June 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 28th, 2017]
- The case for keeping 'Langevin Block' - Macleans.ca [Last Updated On: June 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 30th, 2017]
- The Story of the Deadly Anthrax Outbreak Russia Wanted to Hide ... - Scout [Last Updated On: July 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 8th, 2017]
- Documents Expose How Hollywood Promotes War on Behalf of the Pentagon, CIA and NSA - Center for Research on Globalization [Last Updated On: July 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 9th, 2017]
- The Sverdlovsk Incident Was One of the World's Worst Chemical Weapons Mishaps - War Is Boring [Last Updated On: July 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 9th, 2017]
- How infectious diseases have shaped our culture, habits and language - The Conversation AU [Last Updated On: July 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 14th, 2017]
- For $5500, Could This 1995 Ford F350 Crewcab Dually Really Make America Great Again? - Jalopnik [Last Updated On: July 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 14th, 2017]