In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Edward Jenner's Inquiry into the causes and effects of the variolae vaccinae

Abstract

This review commemorates the 200th anniversary of Edward Jenner's development of a vaccine for variola, the cause of smallpox, and the 20th anniversary of its eradication. Jenner's original 23 case reports are briefly revisited within the context of earlier attempts to prevent this dreaded disease and in light of the current understanding of vaccinology and immunology. In addition, with molecular biological information available about many pox viruses and detailed sequence knowledge of some, it is now possible to appreciate Jenner's prescient accomplishments more fully.

Keywords: Edward Jenner; Pox viruses; Smallpox virus; Vaccination; Variolla.

Figure 1

Plate 1 from Jenner’s Inquiry showing the cowpox lesions on the hand of Sarah Nelmes, one lesion of which was the source of material used to immunize James Phipps against smallpox. Thus began one of public health’s greatest triumphs, vaccination

Figure 2

Genetic relatedness of selected poxviruses. Left ‘Low-resolution’ diagrammatic representation of relatedness of indicated viruses, based upon restriction fragment analyses (6,7) and partial sequence comparisons (8). Line lengths are arbitrary. Right Schematic comparisons of amino acid identity between vaccinia virus (10) and smallpox virus (11). The smallpox sequence is presented, and percentage homology of each predicted protein to the corresponding protein in vaccinia is indicated (11). Intervening noncoding regions are not shown. The scale line under the sequence indicates kilobases. Regions in the central portion of the smallpox genome share very high sequence homology (90% to 100%) to similar genes in vaccinia; however, regions present near both smallpox genomic termini share very little homology, are greatly altered or are absent from the vaccinia genome