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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Edward Jenner
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(1749–1823) English country doctor who discovered vaccination against smallpox. Aware of a local tradition that cowpox gave protection against smallpox, he took the alarming risk in 1796 of inoculating an 8-year-old boy with cowpox and then six weeks later with smallpox. The more serious disease failed to develop. Jenner published his theory in 1798 (An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae).
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After some initial opposition the technique spread rapidly. It is believed that by 1800 some 100,000 people had been vaccinated (the new word was based on vacca, Latin for cow). In 1806 President Jefferson wrote to Jenner: 'Future generations will know by history only that the loathsome smallpox existed and by you has been extirpated.' In 1980 the World Health Organization declared that it had been indeed been finally extirpated throughout the world.
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