How smallpox dealt with its latest victim

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the summer of 1978, scientists around the world were on the verge of a tremendous achievement that cannot be overemphasized. Smallpox, a disease that terrorized humanity for three thousand years and claimed the lives of millions of people around the world, was finally defeated. This was done with the help of a tough mass vaccination program, which was designed for 10 years. And suddenly something completely unexpected happened. Something that plunged both doctors and the public into a state of horror and panic.

The WHO Smallpox Eradication Campaign was led by an American epidemiologist, Donald Henderson. He and his team were simply delighted with the thought that the fight against such a terrible disease was over. That never again will people get sick and die of smallpox. Meanwhile, the doctors were in no hurry to make an official statement. They wanted to wait at least two years to finally be convinced of their victory.

At that time, the last case of smallpox was in 1977, in Somalia. Ali Mau Maalin worked in a hospital. He was not vaccinated and became infected. The fact that he recovered was considered a miracle by the doctors. Then a group of doctors analyzed the incident. The causes responsible for the outbreak have been identified and eliminated. Later, doctors vaccinated about fifty thousand people.

And then, like a bolt from the blue: the smallpox suddenly struck. Her victim was a forty-year-old woman, medical photographer, Janet Parker. She worked in the anatomy department of Birmingham Medical School, England. On August 11, the woman suddenly had a fever. She complained to her doctor about headaches and muscle pain. Over the next few days, Janet's body developed a rash and large, dire red spots. The attending physician told her that she had chickenpox and that she shouldn't worry. But Janet Parker's mother, Mrs. Whitcomb, did not believe the doctor. Who else but she knew that her daughter had had chickenpox in her early childhood. Plus, the large blisters on her body looked nothing like chickenpox pimples. Several days passed, and the bubbles got bigger. Janet felt worse and worse.

The poor woman could no longer even get out of bed herself. On August 20, she was admitted to the isolation ward at Catherine de Barnes Hospital in Solihull. There, doctors diagnosed her with a terrible diagnosis - smallpox.

When information about this leaked to the masses, a real panic began in the city. Not only ordinary citizens panicked, but also the government and the WHO leadership. Of all the places on Mother Earth, Great Britain was the last one to expect. After all, the vaccination program was observed there and carried out excellently.

We found out the reason and found the source of the infection pretty quickly. Everything was banal and simple: there was a laboratory under Janet's office. In this laboratory, doctors studied live samples of the smallpox virus. It was headed by Professor Henry Bedson.

Professor Bedson was initially denied his application for permission to research smallpox viruses. WHO has demanded that the safety standards of his laboratory be improved. Anyway, WHO wanted to keep such laboratories as small as possible. It’s very dangerous. But Bedson insisted. He assured that there was no risk. Their work is almost over and there is no need to invest in expensive laboratory renovations.

On the evening Janet's diagnosis became known, Professor Bedson helped Professor Geddes research her analyzes.

Professor Geddes recalls asking Bedson what he sees through a microscope. But the professor did not answer, he just froze at the microscope like a pillar of salt. “Then I went up to him and looked into the microscope myself. What I saw there made me feel cold. There was no doubt that it was smallpox."

It was then that the fierce smallpox fighter, world renowned and recognized expert in the field, Professor Henry Bedson, understood everything. I understood and was horrified. Not because he was afraid for himself. But because he realized that he had become the unwitting culprit of a possible outbreak of that terrible disease, the fight against which was the work of his whole life.

The city was flooded with WHO officials. They were so afraid that the disease would spread further that more than 500 people were emergency vaccinated. All those who had contact with Janet in the last days before the illness were examined. The hospital staff, her husband, parents, even the plumber who repaired her washbasin, checked and vaccinated everyone.

As the days passed, Janet Parker's condition only worsened. She was almost blinded by sores in both eyes. The heart of her 77-year-old father, Frederick Whitcomb, could not stand the difficult experiences for his daughter and on September 5 he died suddenly.

Professor Bedson could not bear the burden of responsibility for everything that happened and committed suicide. In his farewell note, he wrote that he asks for forgiveness from his colleagues and friends. How insanely it hurts him that he let them down. The professor expressed the hope that his act would at least partially atone for his guilt in front of all of them.

Janet Parker died on September 11, 1978. The authorities' investigation into the tragedy revealed very serious security gaps in the laboratory, as well as the criminal negligence of its employees. There have been cases where virus samples were taken from protective containers. There were no showers or separate changing rooms in the laboratory. That is, workers could go outside in contaminated clothes. No sensible sterilization was carried out. Everyone who worked in the laboratory escaped infection just because they were aware of the vaccinations. They renewed their vaccinations every three to five years, as expected.

To vaccinate against smallpox, doctors used a special bifurcated needle. This needle had two teeth. The paramedic dipped the needle into the vial with the vaccine and a small droplet lingered between the two prongs. The needle was then pierced several times into the skin of a person's hand, a special needle that was invented to speed up the vaccination process. With the help of such a needle, about 200 million people were vaccinated a year.

Despite the investigation, no one has ever figured out exactly how Janet Parker got infected. Professor Bedson's guilt has not been proven. The case was closed because there was not enough evidence. Experts believed that the virus entered the ventilation system and the woman simply inhaled it.

In 1980, two years after Janet's death, the WHO announced that smallpox had been defeated. Smallpox was satisfied with her last victim and, since then, no one else has been sick with this terrible disease.

After the tragedy in Birmingham, they decided to destroy most of the smallpox virus stocks. All laboratories that were engaged in such research were closed. There are only two left - one in Atlanta (USA) and the other in Koltsovo (Russia). In history, this was one of the clearest examples of how the whole world came together to defeat a terrible disease.

Went down in history and 8 Russian doctors, thanks to whom the world has changed for the better.