J. Antall szerk.: Medical history in Hungary 1972. Presented to the XXIII. International Congress of the History of Medicine / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 6. (Budapest, 1972)

I. Friedrich: The Spreading of Jenner's Vaccination in Hungary

THE SPREADING OF JENNER'S VACCINATION IN HUNGARY by ILDIKÓ FRIEDRICH >-phe "antidote" to variola has been known nearly for two-hundred years

— nevertheless it levied its victims in Europe not only at the end of the last century, but still after the turn of the century as well. In the l(j — 17th centuries generally 10 per cent of the deaths were caused by variola. In the 18th century there was not a single country in Europe where it was not known —300 — 400 thousand people became the victimes of small-pox every year.

1 The Austrian Emperor and Hungarian King, Joseph I, too, died of variola. In 1711 and in 1767 Maria Theresa got ill too, but she was fortunate enough to survive the epidemic. But even Louis XV, the French king could not be saved by his doctors; he became the victim of small-pox in 1774. Variola terrorized all strata of society for centuries. In Hungary it first occured in 1575,

2 and it caused a serious public health problem during the centuries, as there was hardly a man to be found who had not been variolous once in his life. The physician Mihály Ková s (1762—1851) wrote in 1822: "In Hungary and in Transylvania variola killed 42,000 people with the most cruel torments and in these countries there was 350,000 people variolous every year"

3 The number of victims in an epidemic went beyond even the massacre of the plague. Medicative man had already become master of the plague but "he did not know any other drug except the bitter tears for men who groaned under the yoke of variola."

4 Though in the 18th century a kind of cure became well-known

—originating from Asia

—namely the vaccination of the natural vaccine (variolation), and it really eased the course of the illness, but out of thousand variolated persons 1 Székely, Ágoston: A himlőoltás fölfedezésének százados évfordulója. (The Centenary of the Vaccination Discovery). Term. Tud. Közi. 1896. Vol. 28. p. 359. 2 Bericht von der ungarischen Krankheit, Blatter und Rĥur. Codex Linzbauer. Quoted by: Patrubány, Gergely: A védtehénhimlő ojtás közegészségügyi és gyógytani értéke (The Public Health and Medical Value of Vaccination by cow-pox). Gyógyászat, 1862. No. 17. p. 348. 3 Ková s, Mihály: Értekezés a himlő kiirtásról. Lelkitanítók számokra (Dissertation on the Extirpation of Variola. For Spiritual Teachers). Pest, 1822, p. 30. 4 Várađi, Sámuel: A tehén himlő avagy a vaktzina természetének és terjesztése módjainak rövid előadása (A Short Lecture on the Nature of Cow-pox or Vaccine and on the ways of its Spreading.) Bécs, 1802, p. 2.