VACCINE SCIENCE REVISITED: Are Childhood
Immunizations As Safe As Claimed? (The Underground
Knowledge Series Book 8)
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Chapter 8 - The helper cell
Chapter 9 - Aluminum, it’s getting on my cells
Chapter 10 - Aluminum controversy
Chapter 11 - Definitely maybe science
Chapter 12 - Formaldehyde – The demolition crew
Chapter 13 - The right amount
Chapter 14 - Polysorbate 80, the ambusher
Chapter 15 - Toxins – Accumulative harmful effects
Chapter 16 - Mercury, the swift traveler
Chapter 17 - Mercury, the ungodly element
Chapter 18 - Mercury, it’s everywhere
Chapter 19 - Monosodium glutamate – Fire away!
Chapter 20 - Glyphosate – It’s everywhere
Chapter 21 - Glyphosate – Golden slumber
Chapter 22 - Prions & nanobacterium – Do you see me now?
Chapter 23 - Mycoplasma – It’s a sticky situation
Chapter 24 - Wrapping up Part One
Chapter 25 - Diphtheria, tetanus & pertussis – Sudden death
Chapter 26 - Diphtheria, tetanus & pertussis - Controversy
Chapter 27 - Bias
Chapter 28 - Polio – Or is it?
Chapter 29 - Polio – Syndromes
Chapter 30 - SV40 scare
Chapter 31 - Polio – The controversy continues
Chapter 32 - India’s polio
Chapter 33 - Hepatitis B virus – Do babies need the vaccine?
Chapter 34 - Hepatitis B virus vaccine – Syndromes
Chapter 35 - Hepatitis A virus vaccine – How badly do we need it?
Chapter 36 - H. influenzae type b vaccine – No, it’s not the flu
Chapter 37 - Meningococcal vaccine – The many shades
Chapter 38 - Pneumococcal vaccine – The many shades of Prevnar
Chapter 39 - MMR, the viral riot
Chapter 40 - MMR – Autism and a ravaged immune system
Chapter 41 - Varicella – The chicken itch
Chapter 42 - Rotavirus – The runs
Chapter 43 - Rotavirus and the porcine invaders
Chapter 44 - The gut and the brain
Chapter 45 - Alzheimer’s and aluminum
Chapter 46 - Our final word on vaccines
Appendix 1: vaccine overview
Endnotes
“I think of the need for more wisdom in the world, to deal with
the knowledge that we have. At one time we had wisdom, but
little knowledge. Now we have a great deal of knowledge, but
do we have enough wisdom to deal with that knowledge?”
Jonas Salk
Acknowledgements
Elísabet (Lisa) Norris, Medical Laboratory Scientist: For carefully
reading this manuscript at various stages over the years and seeing potential
in our early, raw drafts. For patiently advising us on how to improve it
again and again. And also for sharing insider tales of what goes on in
medical labs and public healthcare facilities. We cannot thank you enough,
Lisa!
Dr. Stephen Martino, M.D.: For sharing details about the field of
neurology and also offering personal insights as a father who oversaw and
observed vaccination of his own children.
Denis Toovey, Clinical Pharmacist and author of Better Health for You :
For collaborating with us on our previous medical non-fiction book, which
helped prepare us to put together the pieces of this healthcare jigsaw.
Dr. Kevin Coleman: For alerting us to anomalies in vaccine research and
answering numerous scientific questions over the years. Also for sharing
personal experiences of administering vaccines on various continents
during his professional medical career.
Sigríður Ó. Einarsdóttir, Registered Nurse: For reading the manuscript
and giving honest feedback.
Leticia Martinez: For encouragement and being a positive force.
Tammi Stefano: For setting an example of how to be courageous and stand
up for the truth.
Lastly, we’d like to thank the more than 10,000 members of Underground
Knowledge , the global discussion group we founded on Goodreads.
Especially the doctors, scientists, nurses and parents who bravely shared
their opinions about vaccines in a public forum.
Foreword
B ack when I was a student in the laboratory science program at Weber
State University, Utah, I developed a fascination for microbial life. Vaccine
science was a part of the curriculum, but the emphasis, ahead of all else,
was on the greatness of the invention of vaccines and their revolutionary
ability to ward off sickness. Vaccines were then, and still are, considered a
lifesaving technology. Said to be so crucial to our health that every child
should receive the official immunization schedule, which in some countries
is now mandatory by law.
During my student days, there was never any opportunity for discussion
relating to potential downsides to the vaccination process and we were even
encouraged, albeit subtly, to debunk anyone who dared question the safety
of the many vaccines in circulation.
What we didn’t learn as students, and something you don’t commonly hear
about when being vaccinated, is what a vaccine’s ingredients or
contaminants are (not to mention their potential side effects).
The microbial, or bacteriological, realm inside us always continued to
intrigue me. Even after completing my formal studies at university and
commencing work as a medical laboratory scientist, I conducted personal
research into this unique world in my downtime. It wasn’t until more recent
years however, that I came across research papers and articles on vaccines
that led me to develop some reservations in regards to their manufacture.
This was literally the first time, after many years of studying medicine and
working in the healthcare sector, that vaccines became a concern to me.
Having two teenage kids who are both fully vaccinated, healthy and without
allergies or disabilities of any kind, I can’t say my concern over vaccines
and their side effects related to me personally. Yet having worked at a
medical clinic for many years it was not lost on me how often children were
falling ill and being diagnosed with some type of disease. As I started to
research further, I began to wonder whether there could be a valid
correlation between vaccines and at least some of these diagnosed
childhood diseases.
Trying to find such a correlation turned out to be more difficult than
expected. Vaccine research is often convoluted or else too narrowly
focused. I also came to realize how difficult it is to distinguish between
legitimate research and biased research. It became clear to me that many of
the research papers I was studying were misrepresenting true observations.
I have great respect for researchers and the passion they put into their work.
The papers they publish are often ground-breaking and fascinating.
Unfortunately though, science has its own version of fake news .
This was highlighted in shocking fashion in October of 2018 when the
world’s news media reported that three academics – Dr. Peter Boghossian,
Helen Pluckrose and Dr. James Lindsay – had cleverly exposed the
weaknesses of scientific journals. In order to prove a point about shoddy
research standards, they made up research and created their own data to fit a
pre-conceived conclusion and sent these papers off to peer-reviewed
journals. Some of these papers made it through peer review and were
actually published.
That and other examples of serious flaws in the field of scientific research
have forced me to view other scientists’ work with a more critical eye.
In the first part of this book, authors James and Lance Morcan put vaccine
ingredients under the microscope one at a time and explain their effects on
cells within the human body. This is a journey like no other. The reader is
given an insight into how the vaccine ingredients themselves impact our
cells and what happens to us when our cells are exposed to them.
The second part of this book inspects the various illnesses associated with
the ingredients found in childhood vaccines. At times the dangers seem so
obvious you start wondering why it isn’t clear to everyone.
Vaccine Science Revisited opens your eyes to so much more than just
vaccines. It makes the reader realize how affected we are by our
environment in general. And all of a sudden, all the various disorders
humankind puts up with start making more sense. We are shown how
multitudes of factors play their part and how these make it so difficult for
medical professionals to determine a specific cause for an illness. Because
most likely, there isn’t a specific cause, but an accumulation of multiple
causes.
James and Lance have done an extraordinary job digging through paper
after paper in order to find the most authentic and reliable studies to include
in this book. It’s extremely rare to find a book that covers vaccines in such a
scientifically pure manner. In other words, the data is presented in its raw
state so nothing should cloud the reader’s judgement or taint the research.
Again though, it’s also nearly impossible to distinguish between fake data
and true data. So in the end, it’s difficult to know which scientific authors or
papers to trust when researching immunization studies. To combat this,
James and Lance have searched for consistency using papers from multiple
authors in order to uncover true or accurate data.
Although the human body can’t be dissected into fragments and problems
cannot usually be pinpointed to specific locations, this book also does a
great job at explaining how various vaccine ingredients can impact our
cells.
Focusing on our cellular levels is so important in this field of research
because cells cover our entire body. So rather than narrowing our
perspective solely to damage within one location of the body, we obtain a
broader, more holistic view by studying the influence of vaccine ingredients
on cells. It becomes clear when reading this book that what happens in one
part of the body has consequences on other parts of the body as well.
Cells that comprise the human body are extremely intricate, yet observable.
Using the information of some of the cellular functions mentioned in this
book, you can clearly imagine certain mechanisms within a cell and how
each and every part (of a cell) has a job to do.
One of my favorite revelations in this book is the importance of the cell
membrane and how it regulates exactly what enters and leaves the cell. The
authors opened my mind to possibilities I hadn’t ever fully considered. One
good example being that the cell membrane doesn’t just regulate the
entrance to the cell, it also controls what happens within the cell.
Substances contained in vaccines are able to alter or destroy membranes,
which influences the mechanisms and duties they perform within the cell.
What’s most fascinating about this, if you take a deeper look at cellular
function and consider everything within the cell as merely a factory with
workers, is each cell needs commands in order to know what to do.
Everything is on standby until a command is given.
If you asked yourself where these commands are coming from, the answer
surely must be: from outside the cell. If that’s the case, then ask yourself:
what’s the most important aspect of this whole process?
Could it possibly be the membrane? The membrane decides what messages
to allow in and which ones to block. Those it allows in carry the commands
for the cellular components to perform. Those (messages) it blocks are
commands the cellular components won’t perform. When the membrane
malfunctions, the components can’t perform properly. This goes for the
production of DNA as well because DNA production is also a cellular
function.
Keeping all that in mind, this book illustrates the magic of our body’s
ability to regulate itself and how outside influences can affect us. We are
reminded we must take good care of these cellular mechanisms and keep
our cellular membranes intact. We need them in order to maintain and
control proper cellular functions, which in turn is what keeps us healthy.
Therefore, to fully understand the impact vaccines have on our bodies
requires a much broader investigation than even most of my scientific
colleagues would assume necessary.
Although this book is essentially about vaccine ingredients and their effects,
what’s great is all the information shared also provides an insight into how
our environment in general can alter us. It’s skilfully constructed to cater
equally for those who are strong believers in mainstream science and those
who are focused more on rogue scientists . Since the facts are presented in
their purest form, people of all beliefs can use the material in this book to
further their understanding of this contentious medical subject.
In my opinion, James and Lance Morcan have pulled off an almost
impossible task. To wrangle with the vast amounts of medical data and not
only make sense of it, but satisfactorily explain it all to the layman while
providing sufficient sources and references to satisfy readers with medical
degrees, is a major intellectual achievement.
I strongly urge anybody, regardless of academic standing or lack thereof, to
read this book and familiarize themselves with the concepts presented in it.
Vaccine Science Revisited: Are Childhood Immunizations As Safe As
Claimed? will be with me as a constant reference guide and a reminder that
I, too, have control over what happens to my cells.
Elísabet Norris (Medical Laboratory Scientist, B.S.)
Introduction
R emember those infamous pox parties where parents deliberately
exposed children to diseases such as the flu virus, measles and chickenpox?
They were especially popular in the United States and in Britain at one
stage – the idea being that children build immunity after being exposed to
an infectious disease like chickenpox, which is more dangerous to adults
than children. That was back in the day, before vaccinations were available,
although it seems such activities persist to the present day in some quarters
if mainstream media reports are accurate.
We certainly aren’t advocating parents arrange pox parties to immunize
their children. However, we mention those parties as they represent a
schism that still exists to a degree in regards to approaches to guard against
the wrath of infectious diseases.
Paradoxical as it may sound, it has traditionally been considered a good
thing when a child gets sick with certain infectious diseases like chicken
pox early in life. The idea being that children develop a long-term immunity
from exposure to such diseases.
Of course, isolated experiences of children growing up to become healthy
adults after early exposure like this does not take away the very real threats
diseases pose to children, especially those in poverty-stricken areas of our
fragile planet. There’s a multitude of frightening accounts of deformities,
suffering and death resulting from some of these diseases. It is therefore
highly commendable that scientists and others strive to develop ways to
prevent children from succumbing to disease and falling ill.
Vaccine Science Revisited , or at least the research process that led to its
creation, has been about half a century in the making. As the following
shows, our investigation into vaccines, child vaccines in particular, began
by mere happenstance.
The older one of us (Lance) started actively researching child vaccines as a
young newspaper and broadcasting journalist in the late 1960s and early
1970s. This entailed visiting hospitals and medical clinics in New Zealand
and Australia, and interviewing doctors and nurses as well as parents.
Scientific research into vaccines was fairly new back then and much has
changed since those early times . What’s interesting is the immunization
schedule of recommended vaccines was considerably less then than the
amount of vaccines that are recommended, or in some cases are mandatory
, today.
Over the decades, we have monitored from afar the sciences that relate to
vaccines. A sometimes overwhelming task that included reading various
books by scientists, following news stories written by other investigative
journalists on vaccines, and talking to laboratory technicians, doctors and
nurses about the immunization process.
In more recent years we made several attempts to begin writing this book.
However, we always found the research required was simply too exhaustive
and kept putting it aside to work on other (less intellectually demanding)
book and film projects.
In 2015, we published a book called Medical Industrial Complex , which
aimed to expose the financial corruption and conflicts of interest that exist
in modern medicine. Doing research for that particular book saw us not
only interviewing doctors, nurses and other medical professionals once
more, but also collaborating with a veteran pharmacist. It opened our eyes
to some alarming practices within modern medicine that we hadn’t
previously considered. Cozy relationships between supposedly independent
and unbiased divisions of the healthcare sector being one of those, and the
shutting down of potentially worthy medical debates because of financial
interests, academic rigidity or even political correctness being another.
Although we briefly touched on vaccines in that book, it was admittedly
more of a cursory overview. We still did not feel sufficiently knowledgeable
or well-researched to accurately assess the science behind the modern
immunization process. Nor had we, at that stage, a clear picture of the
dramatic and often torturous early history of vaccinations. A history which
makes for compelling reading and which we address in the first few
chapters of this book.
Around the same time we started a global discussion group called
Underground Knowledge on Goodreads – the popular, Amazon-owned,
social media site for book readers. It soon became (and continues to be) an
excellent forum for public debate on vaccinations and medicine in general,
attracting concerned parents and social activists as well as doctors,
scientists and other medical professionals with firsthand experience in
either administering vaccines or working with them in laboratories.
We ran a group poll asking members, Do you believe child
immunizations/vaccines are for the most part extremely safe as per official
statements from mainstream medicine and Big Pharma ? The poll received
501 total votes of which 281 (56.1%) voted Yes . However, 220 voted either
No or Unsure . The numbers of poll respondents in doubt, combined with
certain comments made by medical practitioners, finally inspired us enough
to attempt to drill down to deeper levels of medical research papers, do the
hard yards and write the book you are reading now.
At first, we felt more like fence-sitters as we were simply observing all
sides and listening to the various arguments. We also knew we wouldn’t be
able to make up our own minds simply by reading other people’s
statements. We had to attain a stronger comprehension of the medical
sciences at hand to gain an educated and informed understanding of
vaccines.
A lifetime’s interest in health combined with our previous investigations
into the medical sector, or sectors, had taught us that nature often finds
ways to take care of itself, the human body included. We realized early on
in our research there was a real concern about introducing the body to
toxins it has never had to deal with before. Toxins that enter the body
unnaturally and bypass our natural defense system.
It became apparent to us the body reacts differently to these toxins
depending on the route of entry. This adds a further complexity to the whole
vaccination issue. A complexity that would present challenges for us when
sifting through study designs while gathering appropriate information on
vaccine ingredients.
Since these vaccines are approved and deemed safe, we had to consider that
perhaps the amount of toxins (in vaccines) are small enough that our body
can accommodate and process them without a problem. After all, it is a part
of our body armor’s design to filter out and eliminate toxins. This works
well for healthy individuals, but we soon realized that, unfortunately, in
today’s society there are countless children with weakened immune systems
whose protective armor is not as strong.
Although these children are in minority, we feel strongly they should not be
tossed to the wayside and ignored.
If vaccines really are unsafe for children with permanently weakened
immune systems, they could also be unsafe or risky for the majority of
children whenever their usually healthy immune systems are temporarily in
a weakened condition for whatever reason.
On that note, after we started reading the package inserts for each vaccine,
we realized that all the inserts come with warnings on who should not be
given vaccines. Check these package inserts out. They make for very
interesting reading.
After talking to many parents who have taken their children in for
immunizations, it appears the information given to them about the shots is
limited to which diseases the shots are for. Other than that, the parents are
essentially left in the dark.
When we approached doctors and nurses about this issue, many said they
don’t have time to read all the package inserts, relying instead on what they
are being told by “the experts” supplying the product. This motivated us to
include them (medical professionals) in our long list of people this book is
written for as we realized they often have little background knowledge on
vaccine science. Which meant we had to make it sciencey enough to be
taken seriously by them.
We were under no illusions doctors, nurses, surgeons and other medical
professionals would require much convincing because many we approached
indicated they, and they alone, had science on their side. We reached this
inescapable conclusion because they told us to “believe in the science” or
“just read the medical journals.” In fact, we lost count how many of these
professionals recited those phrases, oftentimes verbatim!
Unfortunately, such comments usually came without any further
explanation. It was as if these medical professionals thought those
comments spoke for themselves as proof that vaccines are always
completely safe and beneficial – and should never be questioned,
apparently.
It’s an unfortunate truth that modern science, like mainstream medicine, has
been shown to be corrupt at times, or unconsciously biased at other times,
and is often fallible. Make no mistake, we greatly respect scientific and
mainstream medical journals as evidenced by the fact that about 90% of this
book is simply references to, or reports and reviews of, official medical
papers prepared by scientists. However , our caveat is that the facts and
observations presented in such documents must be unbiased and untainted
by academic dogma, pursuit of fame and profit, or any of the other failings
that jeopardize medical research.
We are aware some of our findings will upset those who are for vaccines,
and some definitely won’t be popular with those against them. It wasn’t our
goal to prove either side right or wrong, but to clarify where their arguments
originate from and to revisit those origins, leaving the science to do the
talking. We honestly had no idea where our research and reviews of medical
papers would take us, and we were ready to accept the facts as long as they
were appropriately presented.
Little did we know how difficult it would be to source scientific and
medical research that could be trusted as containing untainted or unbiased
data. We soon found ourselves buried in research and began questioning our
ability to tackle this monster of a subject. Conservatively, we would have
read or at least skimmed more than a thousand research documents and
papers. It was so overwhelming we were forced to rethink our strategy.
We realized we needed to be pickier about the papers we chose to
investigate, and so we did exactly that. We also brought together a team of
medical advisors, including a doctor, lab scientists and other healthcare
practitioners, who, between them, helped us develop the right approach to
researching this complex field.
This turned out to the best decision we made with this book. Our search
through the research paper pile no longer seemed impossible as we finally
had clear guidelines to work to. And so we started focusing on such things
as who the authors of the studies were, where the studies were performed,
how large the population sample was, who was included in the study, and
the design of each study. It took us a while, but we were able to discard
most studies after developing a list of qualifying criteria studies needed to
pass if they were to be considered.
Being able to work with a team of people who know how to read research
papers, and bounce questions off them, was like a breath of fresh air.
One good piece of advice we received from our medical advisory team was
that after we found any research papers that met the qualifying criteria, we
couldn’t just read the abstract or the conclusion. This, our experts informed
us, was the problem for many health professionals. They simply don’t have
the time to read the research, so they make do with the abstract or
sometimes just the study’s conclusion. This forced us to read through entire
research papers.
Throughout our epic dive into the world of research papers, we realized that
when it came to researching vaccines and their ingredients, many of them
do not have adequate research data available. In order to find out the impact
these ingredients or contaminants have, we found ourselves frequently
forced to lean on research unrelated to vaccines or lean on research with a
bias to fit either the hypothesis or the funding entity’s interest.
It was at times very difficult, sometimes even impossible, to find articles by
independent researchers accepted by the mainstream scientific community.
Our feelings were supported by others in the scientific field as well.
An article from granbydrummer.com states:
“One reason this topic is so controversial is because long-term studies
by independent organizations have not been allowed in the United
States. Only limited independent information is available to the public
and politicians. This contradicts scientific research methods in the
U.S.A.” [ 1]
Another important point regarding research papers is the fact that it is very
difficult for people in general, but especially those outside the scientific
community, to know which sets of data are reliable.
In an article by Richard Horton ( FMedSci ), Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet ,
he states:
“The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific
literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with
small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and
flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing
fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn
towards darkness. As one participant put it, ‘poor methods get
results’.” [ 2]
It is very concerning for us to read such an article in a prestigious, peer-
reviewed, medical journal like The Lancet . Horton’s concern doesn’t stop
there.
Regarding researchers he says that in their:
“…quest for telling a compelling story, scientists too often sculpt data
to fit their preferred theory of the world. Or they retrofit hypotheses to
fit their data.” [ 3]
His concern isn’t just aimed at the researchers, either. He feels journal
editors can be just as shady in their actions, and there is an “unhealthy
competition” taking place in trying to get papers published in the more
prominent journals.
Horton says that their:
“…love of ‘significance’ pollutes the literature with many a statistical
fairy-tale. We reject important confirmations.” [ 4]
It seems it isn’t just the researchers and journal editors who are desperate
for favorable research. Universities are also seeking “money and talent”.
Sadly, and somewhat surprisingly, in his conclusion of the aforementioned
article where Horton summarizes his attendance at a symposium on the
reproducibility and reliability of biomedical research, he says they could not
think of a solution to this problem:
“The bad news is that nobody is ready to take the first step to clean up
the system.” [ 5]
In writing this book, we tried to be as diverse in our research as possible so
as not to bias the reader. That said, we do of course have our own thoughts
on vaccines, which are occasionally reflected in (fairly brief) commentaries
scattered throughout the book. These are not meant to bias the facts
presented, merely to share with you our thoughts.
Please note the word Revisited in this book’s main title Vaccine Science
Revisited . It refers to a new inspection of what the science actually says
about vaccines and vaccinations.
We are aware many members of the general public and, especially, the
scientific community believe any debate over vaccine effectiveness, or how
safe vaccines are, should have ended long ago, and that “science has
already conclusively spoken.” We beg to differ, and we believe you will,
too, once you read this book and consider the almost infinite number of
murky, gray areas exposed by the vast amount of research out there. Too
much has been assumed and misunderstood – on all sides.
It’s definitely time for society to revisit the subject of vaccines and vaccine
safety, especially where our children are concerned, and open up the
scientific debate once more.
Keep in mind, however, the debate we are primarily focused on is not
whether or not we should vaccinate/immunize our children. Rather, as this
book’s subtitle suggests, we are focused on whether childhood vaccines are
as safe as claimed. For it is, after all, possible to be extremely pro-vaccines
yet still wonder if they can and should be made safer. Likewise, it is also
possible to be very pro science and anti-pseudoscience yet still question
vaccine safety claims or else demand more effective safety protocols.
So, the aforementioned doctors and other medical professionals who
dismissively replied to all our questions with “Believe in the science” or
“Just read the medical journals” will be pleased to know we have done
exactly that – and only that. We trust you’ll appreciate how this book avoids
all rumor, conjecture, conspiracy theories and anecdotal evidence, and
steadfastly focuses on what the latest medical and scientific research
actually says about vaccines.
Even if you are anti-vaccines, or else highly-skeptical of their safety,
remember that if any of the most controversial theories are true then it must
be possible for science to prove it. Eventually, any harmful vaccine
ingredients will be proven to be just that. That’s why we have excluded all
theories and focused on facts contained in the best research data available.
Beyond all the controversy, naivety, paranoia, academic rigidity and
Pollyannaish trust in governments and multinational pharmaceutical
corporations, what does the most reliable and unbiased science actually
reveal about vaccines?
Read on to find out. And no matter your level of education or experience –
whether you are a doctor, layman, scientist, nurse, med student or new
parent – be prepared to be surprised by much of the medical research
findings.
James & Lance Morcan
Part One
Vaccine ingredients up close
1
Force of nature
“All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange,
sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and
parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive.”
Yann Martel ( Life of Pi )
O n June 27 th , 1833, a 21-year-old man suffered from severe head and
back pain. One day later, he was still in great pain and red spots covered his
body and face. Smallpox.
By morning, Surgeon Henry George [6] had come to see him. The surgeon
wrote in his notebook:
“His mind was wandering; his limbs and voice tremulous; his tongue
dry, and covered with a brownish-red crust [. . .].” [7]
The man’s face was completely swollen from pustules. Surgeon George fed
him beef-tea and arrow-root and gave him medication. This helped the
young man sleep for a few hours during the night.
The morning after, the swelling was worse and the pustules had merged
together and blanketed his face. By July 1 st , five days after the illness
started, his entire body had turned a bluish-gray color. The pustules
covering his body were completely confluent. Calamine, which was often
used to reduce smallpox scarring, was applied to his body.
His seizures were so intense that it took five people to hold him down. The
seizures continued throughout his illness. By July 9 th , nearly two weeks
since he became sick, Surgeon George described the young man as:
“[…] the most horrid spectacle that can be imagined; lies, and while
lying, trembles from head to foot; his countenance suspiciously wild,
and expressive of the darkest intentions; [...].” [8]
From other accounts of what smallpox does to a person, we can assume the
pain was unbearable. Infected skin cells shedding as the virus struggled for
survival. With the skin peeling off, the virus escaped to re-enter the body
via such means as saliva. Once in the saliva, the germ infected the digestive
system, giving it access to all organs.
The pustules grew to the size of boils, and any physical touch excruciating.
The slightest movement would have felt like the skin being torn off. Still,
through all this, the young man stayed fully alert.
Surgeon George continued to explain how a couple of days later, the outer
layer of skin had completely detached itself from the rest of his face.
Although the surgeon did not describe his patient being any pain, we cannot
help but wonder how painful the separation of skin from his face must have
been. The nerves would have been exposed without a layer of protection.
Surgeon George described infections under both big toes and in one of the
heels. The infections oozed a rancid bloody discharge. The smell, he
described as “dreadful”.
Three weeks later, on August 30 th , the surgeon notes that his patient had:
“[…] violent flushing of the face; he is now pale, cold, a degree of
stupor hanging over him; very dilated pupil; cannot tell the hour, and
seems unconscious of your presence [. . .] he does not now walk erect;
in moving, his motions are very hurried, and his body considerably
bent.” [9]
The surgeon continues to treat him with medication and wine. His last notes
end on September 2 nd with the patient more pleasant and reading the
newspaper. The illness had consumed two full months of his life. He had
survived the smallpox attack. He would live the rest of his life with major
scarring to his face and body.
Stories of severe illnesses are not uncommon throughout our human history.
Neither are the stories of humans’ innate desire for survival. We fight to
prevent diseases and we fight to heal in the aftermath.
Desperate measures have been the groundwork for development of various
techniques to ward off and to treat diseases. Even before our understanding
of pathogens, or disease-causing germs, we were hard at work battling
them. Often alchemy and superstitious practices became the main focus.
One such technique was described by a Chinese talisman, referred to in the
book Chu yu shih-san kho [10] , on how to exorcize the smallpox out of a
child:
“[…] write the magic character on paper with red cinnabar ink, burn
it to ashes, and have the child take them in liquid.” [11]
Later on, these practices became more medicine-oriented. An example of
such a source that explains various variolation, or inoculation techniques is
I tsung chin chien ( The Golden Mirror of Medicine ). This is a collection of
all available treatises, gathered together in 1739 by the Imperial College of
Physicians in Peking. This collection contained four ways to prevent
smallpox – as listed here:
“Aqueous inoculum method (shui miao fa). Allow a moistened plug of
cotton-wool to imbibe an aqueous extract of a number of pulverised
scabs (chia), and insert it into a nostril of the child to be inoculated.
“Dry inoculum method (han miao fa). Use slowly dried scabs, grind
them into a fine powder, and blow it into the child’s nostrils by a
suitable tube of silver.
“Smallpox-garment method (tou i fa). Wrap the child or the patient in
a garment which has been worn by a smallpox sufferer during the
illness.
“Smallpox lymph method (tou chiang fa). Impregnate a plug of cotton-
wool with lymph from the perfectly matured pustules of a smallpox
patient, and insert this into the nostril of the child to be inoculated.”
[12]
The Chinese knew how virulent the virus being used for the inoculum was.
This was very important as it dictated its safety and efficacy. A man by the
name of Yü Thien-chhih [13] explained how inoculates were only collected
from patients with mild symptoms. They collected only from patients who
had a mild strain of the virus. Any other more virulent or epidemic-type
strains were considered too dangerous to use and would kill people, rather
than immunize them.
In addition to the potency factor of various strains, Yü Thien-chhih
mentions a monetary benefit to inoculation in a collection called Sha tou chi
chieh from 1727:
“[. . .] you have to pay two or three pieces of gold for enough to
inoculate one person. Physicians who want to make some profit pass it
through the children of their own relatives. [. . .] Others eager for
money steal away the scabs from [severe] smallpox cases and use the
material directly. It is called pai miao (ruined inoculum). In such cases
there will be 15 deaths in 100 patients.” [14]
Tibetans have been performing inoculations since ancient times as well.
Their method was to dip multiple needles into a solution containing the
virus and dried crusts. Using the dipped needles, they would prick the arm
of the individual being immunized.
Needle-pricks around the world
Inoculations seemed to be happening across borders worldwide. Turkey
was known for its success with inoculations. While staying in Turkey’s
(then) capital Constantinople, in December, 1713, the renowned Fellow of
London’s Royal Society, Mr. Emanuel Timonius, wrote a letter about this
practice and how smallpox inoculations have already been in use for 40
years in Turkey.
During these inoculations, not a single person had died. In his letter, Mr.
Timonius describes the procedure:
“[…] Needle prick the Tubercles […] press out the Matter coming
from them into some convenient vessel of Glass [. . .] wash and clean
the Vessel first with warm Water: A convenient quantity of this Matter
being thus collected, is to be Stop’d close, and kept warm in the Bosom
of the Person that carries it, and, as Soon as may be, brought to the
place of expecting future Patient.” [15]
He continued explaining that after the patient received the inoculant:
“[…] the Operator is to make several little Wounds with a Needle, in
one, two or more places of the Skin, till some drops of Blood follow,
and immediately drop out some drops of the Matter in the Glass, and
mix it well with the Blood issuing out [. . .].” [16]
In 1717, while residing in Turkey, Lady Mary Wortley, an English
aristocrat, writer and wife of the British ambassador in Turkey, wrote letters
encouraging the methods to be used in England. She had herself been sick
with smallpox, and it left her face quite scarred. She didn’t want that for her
five-year-old son, and requested Charles Maitland, the embassy surgeon at
the time, to inoculate him.
When they returned to England, Maitland received a royal license to
conduct an experiment on death row prisoners [17] . So, in 1721, Charles
Maitland, Dr. Richard Mead, Sir Hans Sloane and Dr. John George
Steigerthal performed an experiment at Newgate Prison [18] in London [19] .
After the prisoners were inoculated, they were sent to Hertford. There was a
smallpox epidemic there at the time [ 20] . None of the prisoners got sick
with smallpox. All the prisoners in the experiment survived and were
excused of their crimes in return for participating in the experiment.
Princess Caroline of Great Britain was not quite ready to inoculate her own
children, even after the successful experimentation on the prisoners. In
order to confirm its success, she had six orphans inoculated. None of the
orphans became sick with smallpox when exposed. The princess now felt
comfortable enough to inoculate her own children.
2
From magic to medicine
“Medicine is not only a science; it is also an art. It does not consist of
compounding pills and plasters; it deals with the very processes of life,
which must be understood before they may be guided.”
Paracelcus (alchemist and physician)
I n Britain, The Royal Society of Medicine was interested in the various
inoculation techniques used around the world. With a desire to educate
themselves and put into practice efficient and safe inoculation methods, its
members studied the methods used by other cultures. The society recorded
their observations in an article:
“In India, before variolation, the subject to be inoculated had to
undergo a strict dietetic régime and after the operation, which was
performed upon the upper arm by placing wool dipped in smallpox
secretion on a scratched surface, the patient had to live in the open,
away from people, and on a light diet.” [21]
