The Smallpox Virus
The particular weapon or better yet biological microorganism that I have chosen to outline this week is that of a particularly nasty strain of disease which has wiped out an unknown multitude of people throughout history. This infectious disease, known as the genus Orthopoxvirus, from the the family Poxviridae and subfamily of chordopoxvirinae, is potentially believed to have laid to waste whole civilizations of people. It also goes by the name “Red Plague”, or in more common parlance, “The Smallpox Virus.”
Historically, this virus made its way to Europe sometime between the 5th and 7th centuries. According to Reidel (2005), “It was frequently epidemic during the Middle Ages. Smallpox continued to be a problem throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, affecting populations on a large scale.” It was one of the primary annihilator’s of the native indigenous population of the Americas during the first arrivals of the Europeans who brought it with them. One notable incident which many believe led to a severe outbreak of the smallpox amongst various Indian tribes in the Ohio Valley in 1763 was the case of the British Army giving away blankets from a pox hospital with the hopes of passing the disease onto the Indians they were fighting. Gill (2004) shares purported correspondence between two British officers with the following:
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We must, on this occasion, Use Every Stratagem in our power to Reduce them." He ordered the extirpation of the Indians and said no prisoners should be taken. About a week later, he wrote to Bouquet: "You will Do well to try to Innoculate the Indians by means of Blanketts as well as to try Every other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable
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619 Words | 3 PagesIf it was suspected that a person was either infected with smallpox, or had come in contact with someone infected with smallpox, they could be taken from their home and sent to the Quarantine Station with as little as five minutes notice. This, combined with the shortages of the Quarantine stations facilities resulted in so many complaints that a Royal Commission was ordered resulting in the dismissal of the Superintendent of the Quarantine Station and the establishment of a ‘Board of Health’ to operate the Quarantine
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1322 Words | 6 Pages1. There are many accusations of who was responsible for the smallpox outbreak in Fort Pitt, during the summer 1763. Many of the Native Americans accused the British soldiers of being responsible for the outbreak. There is suspension that Jeffery Amherst, the British commander in chief, knew of smallpox infected blankets being given to Natives by the end of June. William Trent is also credited with writing an account of the event in his diary.
Summary Of The Great Mortality By John Kelly
1845 Words | 8 PagesThe book, “The Great Mortality” by John Kelly, explores how the Black Death spread across Europe and Asia from 1347 to 1351 and left a trail of terrors in its path. Kelly describes the history of the plague from witnesses of the disaster. It describes how the black rat flea, Xenopsylla cheopis spread the infection throughout this region, killing over half of the population. Kelly describes the measures taken by the town, the church and health organizations to prevent the Plague from spreading. Although there are many important issues brought to light by Kelly, some offer more discussion and though than others.
Boston Smallpox Research Paper
112 Words | 1 PagesBoston Smallpox Epidemic of 1721: When smallpox broke out in Boston, Cotton Mather introduced an untested medical procedure called “inoculation”, which would introduce a small amount of the virus to a patient, in hoping they would become immune to it. Many were opposed to it, even though it worked. Many people died due to the epidemic. 31. Common Sense: Thomas Paine wrote a book called "Common Sense", it sold more than 150,000 copies when the population was only 3 million.
William Penn Benefits
353 Words | 2 PagesPenn experienced this he lost a third of his passengers to smallpox, it had been spreading quickly. Especially in Europe, and it came with the Europeans that came to Pennsylvania. A big issue with smallpox was that the native Americans were really sensitive to it, so most of them got really sick and
What Are The Environmental Effects Of The Columbian Exchange
1404 Words | 6 PagesThe new world was much more impacted than the old world from diseases exchanged. The Native Americans were more impacted because they had no previous contact with Old World diseases, and were immunologically defenseless. “Before Europeans initiated the Columbian Exchange of germs and viruses, the peoples of the Americas suffered no smallpox, no measles, no chickenpox, no influenza, no typhus or parathyroid fever, no diphtheria, no cholera, no bubonic plague, no scarlet fever, no whooping cough, and no malaria5”. The first recorded smallpox epidemic in the new world was in 1518 in the Greater Antilles and swept through Mexico and Central America. It caused “in all likelihood the most severe loss of aboriginal population that ever occurred6.”
The American Plague: The Epidemic The Shaped Our History
1806 Words | 8 PagesOne of the biggest summer nuisance would be the mosquito, but more specifically the Ades aegypti mosquito. The Aedes aegypti is the vector for yellow fever and the cause of the numerous deaths. In her book The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, The Epidemic the Shaped Our History, Molly Caldwell Crosby presents the idea that the mosquito is not just the only reason an epidemic occurred in the 18th century. This story accounts for the disease that broke out across the world and nearly destroyed almost all of North America’s population, which some believe could have been avoided by simple quarantine analysis and sanitary methods.
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652 Words | 3 PagesThis shows how the Mongols used Biological Warfare against their enemies which as a result inflated into one of the deadliest pandemics in history, with estimates pointing to around one quarter or one third of Europe’s population dying.(Wheelis) This shows yet again that the Mongols caused such a widespread plague just trying to take a city over! As a result, the Mongols can be accredited to spreading the Black Plague to Europe which killed millions of people, in addition to the number of civilians they already
Why Were The Europeans Able To Conquer The Americas
654 Words | 3 PagesThe European conquerors had built up an immunity to certain diseases that were common in Europe. Some of the diseases that decimated the Indian population included the following: smallpox, measles, influenza, typhus, and the bubonic plague. Centuries of living near livestock had basically inoculated the European settlers against these diseases. However the Indians were not used to such diseases, resulting in a dramatic decline in the Native American population. According to Diamond, smallpox was a major role in the domination of the Americas by the Europeans.
The Similarities Between Smallpox And The Black Death
107 Words | 1 PagesAnother similarity between Smallpox and the black death is that they both advanced important movements. Smallpox is credited with being the cause of the rise of the American abolition movement. White people living in the slave ports feared for their own health, which brought the notion of the movement itself. The Black Death is credited with being the cause of the Reformation. Due to people like William the One-day Priest, the church was thought to be corrupt.
Cherokee Medicine Colonial Germs Sparknotes
1339 Words | 6 PagesKelton uses these facts to show how the Cherokee did more than idly sit by and let smallpox take over, they took a stance by using their previous knowledge while also adding new aspects to customize their actions to the new and deadly disease. The author also does a splendid job in showing that the Cherokee were open to adopting new practices in within their already established practices if they proved to be beneficial to the health and well-being of the
Positive And Negative Effects On Native Americans Essay
1169 Words | 5 PagesAs the Europeans found native along the coasts of the New World, they found them easily malleable and able to be used, so they enslaved them and those who fought back were wiped out. Europeans, as well as the Africans, had built up a resistance to many diseases such as smallpox and were therefore not really affected as much by the diseases if they became sick. However, the Native Americans had not had contact with the disease and it quickly spread rapidly and slowly helped the Spanish rid themselves of the natives so they could take control of the land. Geoffrey Cowley offers insight on just how profound the effect of smallpox was when he writes, “ ...When the newcomers arrived carrying mumps, measles, whooping cough, smallpox, cholera, gonorrhea and yellow fever, the Indians were immunologically
Was Justice In Aztec Society Fair Essay
1518 Words | 7 PagesThe Spanish conquistadors arrived via boat to Lake Texaco, the conquistadors and cortez brought a plague of Small pox; "A contagious, deadly disease" … (Mayo Clinic. 2013). The biological warfare was transmitted between both colonies which killed 90% of adults and 10% of children. Weapons/
Essay On Monkeypox
1562 Words | 7 PagesHuman monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease caused by the monkeypox virus (MPXV), a member of the genus Orthopoxvirus (family Poxviridae, subfamily Chordopoxvirinae), that occurs mostly in the rain forests of central and western Africa. People living in or near the forested areas may have indirect or low-level exposure, possibly leading to subclinical infection. However, the disease recently emerged in the United States in imported wild rodents from Africa. Monkeypox has a clinical presentation very similar to that of ordinary forms of smallpox, including flulike symptoms, fever, malaise, back pain, headache, and characteristic rash. Given this clinical spectrum, differential diagnosis to rule out smallpox is very important.
The Rabies Virus
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