
How smallpox claimed its final victim - DanBC
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-45101091
======
craftyguy
> In 1796 Jenner noticed that milkmaids who had caught the cowpox virus did
> not normally then catch smallpox. Cowpox was very similar to smallpox but
> less contagious.

> He collected pus from the cowpox blisters on a milkmaid's hands and
> purposely infected a small boy.

> The boy was taken ill for a short while, but was then resistant to any
> subsequent infections of the cowpox and smallpox viruses.

> He tested this by infecting the boy with smallpox and no illness occurred.

Gosh, medical testing has come a long way since then. It's a little hard to
believe that the discovery of one of the most important vaccines in human
history played out this way. Someone doing something similar now would likely
be executed or thrown in prison for life, and rightfully so. But, still crazy
to think about.

~~~
jkabrg
He didn't infect him, he variolated him. Variolation normally causes a very
mild form of smallpox -- but results in a person becoming immune to the
disease. Variolation is the predecessor of vaccination.

~~~
steve19
Well the history of variolation in the West is no walk in the park. It was
tested on prisoners who were then exposed to smallpox and told if they
survived they would go free!

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variolation](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variolation)

~~~
therein
> It was tested on prisoners who were then exposed to smallpox and told if
> they survived they would go free!

I am not saying it is an good situation but I have a feeling a lot of people
who are in prison for life with no chance of parole would probably be
interested in such an offer.

------
cryptozeus
Great article but never answers the question ....freaking click bait

~~~
candiodari
The article lists what happens. If you combine it with the wikipedia article
...

1) government facility is visited by the WHO. The report about this says that
it's measures to contain the disease are insufficient. Lab is scheduled for
closure in 6 months, which is provided as a reason to take no action.

And ... the lab infects one an employee of the same university (but working in
a very different department) with a fatal disease, smallpox. The employee was
a medical photographer, nothing to do with the lab itself, but works above the
lab (not even directly above the lab). Looking at the place on google maps,
I'd say at least 50 other people worked above the lab as well.

2) another government doctor misdiagnoses the disease

Failure point 1: Apparently the government sees no reason to have facilities
that work with fatal diseases provide medical examinations for it's employees,
given the special situation.

Instead, no doubt much cheaper, they just assume nothing ever goes wrong.

Just so we're clear: if this disease breaks out for real and reassumes it's
former form, a BILLION people WILL die. Millions in Britain, billions
worldwide. But not checking, I'm sure, is cheaper.

3) Without changing the diagnosis, nor providing a reason for it, the
government incarcerates the patient in an isolation hospital.

4) By shear and total chance, upon the entry examination in the isolation
hospital, an old doctor who has diagnosed such patients before recognizes the
disease. This is pure and total luck, and mostly a result of the age of the
doctor that just happened to be on duty. Had that doctor been a new hire, we
would never have known about this outbreak (because they aren't trained to
diagnose smallpox, as it's eradicated).

5) The government lab where she worked was only informed of the seriousness of
what had happened ... by the press. Clearly, keeping tabs on employees with
mysterious illnesses is not the job of government labs that investigate fatal
diseases, instead the government and these labs count on the press to prevent
millions of deaths.

6) Once they realize what is happening, they immediately incarcerate everyone
they can find 500 people total. "Placed in quarantine". Except, of course, the
people that are most likely to be infected: the people from the lab itself. No
doubt this was a reasonable assessment done in the service of the community
... as to why no member of the government staff itself was thought to be
infected, I'm sure there's a great explanation, and it's not just "it's a
necessary, but cruel and inhumane process that we don't apply to our own
people".

... FIVE HUNDRED people total.

The government did not see the need to provide food for at least some of the
people they locked up in quarantine. Luckily, said people "forced" their way
out after SEVERAL DAYS. This was 2 families, including children.

7) The process of quarantine itself kills the father of the person that fell
ill. I'm sure this has _nothing_ to do with how those people are treated, and
of course it did _not_ affect the government's decision to have it's own
people not subjected to it, despite those government employees being by far
the most likely to have been exposed.

The government immediately declares it critical that the corpse is not
investigated, due to the risk that it had been infected with smallpox ( _not_
, I'm sure, because they would have found bruising from the incarceration the
government just put him through, right ?)

8) The government employee responsible for isolating the virus kills himself.
Leaves a note: "I am sorry to have misplaced the trust which so many of my
friends and colleagues have placed in me and my work."

Needless to say, he did so at home, not in quarantine. No mention made of
special measures taken to check if the corpse was infected (viruses, including
smallpox, can spread from dead people for up to two weeks after death). If he
had been infected, would the disease have spread ?

9) Employee dies.

10) Despite the lab being the only credible source of the disease (it's
eradicated), the government absolved itself fully of any responsibility for
what happened when the husband asked the police for help.

She leaves behind a husband, Joseph, who was incarcerated for 2 months and not
allowed contact with his wife during this ordeal. His wife, a medical
photographer, left for work, and he never saw her again, not even after she
died, as he wasn't allowed to attend her cremation.

When he came back to his home, he found it fumigated.

Needless to say, the government decided there was no need to fumigate the
facilities KNOWN TO HAVE VIRUS PARTICLES IN THEM. After intervention from the
WHO they do it anyway, 2 months later, after thousands of people passed
through the facilities.

Eventually, due to intervention of a trade union, after years of legal action,
the government pays £26,500 in compensation. Due to normal government
regulations, the trade union carries all legal costs (which are likely to
exceed the awarded amount).

Sources: the article and
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_smallpox_outbreak_in_the_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_smallpox_outbreak_in_the_United_Kingdom)

After all this, statements by the government were made:

"Birmingham University claims it is being made subject of malicious claims
that Bedson's lab was not safe. 'This river of hate that someone is pouring
out is absolute nonsense,' says press officer Martin Cheesewright."

Another, VERY public statement, is the "investigation". Reginald Arthur
Shooter, a (very old at the time) microbiologist, lead the investigation,
found nothing wrong, and defended this in the court where the government
absolved itself of any wrongdoing (and as mentioned in this thread didn't
explain how the infection occurred) and was awarded the rank of commander in
the order of the British Empire at the Queen's "Birthday Honors".

Long live the queen ! And .... those that her organizations infect with deadly
diseases ...

(the queen is head of state, and thus the ultimate boss of everyone identified
as "the government" above)

