Scientists Track and Identify Origin of Smallpox Vaccine Strain Used in Civil War

Scientists and historians working at McMaster University, the Mutter Museum, and the University of Sydney have stitched together the genomes of old viruses used as vaccination strains during and after the Civil War, ultimately leading to the eradication of smallpox. Connected

Smallpox is one of the most devastating viral illnesses affecting humans, killing three in ten infected people. Those who survived were often disabled, blind, or visually injured.

The World Health Organization recently celebrated its 40th anniversary of eradication smallpox, The most successful campaign ever tried. Since researchers all over the world are enthusiastically developing, vaccine Successful Campaigns and Findings of this Paper Against COVID-19 Outlined Journal Genomic biologyResearchers say the value of vaccination is pointed out. They suggest that other vaccines are waiting to be found among today’s influenza and coronavirus viral relatives.

“Understanding history, evolution and the way these viruses function as vaccines are very important in our time,” said Hendrick Poiner, an evolutionary geneticist who is the director of the McMaster Ancient DNA Center where the study was conducted. States. Principal Investigator at Michael G. DeGroot Institute for Infectious Diseases at the University.

“This study points out the importance of examining the diversity of these vaccine strains found in the wild. We know how many vaccines can provide cross protection from a wide range of viruses such as influenza and coronaviruses.” No,” he says.

The concept of widespread vaccination dates back to 1974 by the British physician Edward Jenner, known for his outstanding contributions to medicine. Milk-made breasts provided protection against future smallpox outbreaks. However, the methods and raw materials used for early smallpox vaccination have not been standardized for over a century. “Cowpox” is often referred to as the source of the first vaccination, but little is known about the specific origin and diversity of the virus strains used in the early smallpox vaccination program

In their study, researchers used advanced techniques developed at the McMaster Ancient DNA Center to reconstruct and analyze the genome of viral fragments recovered from vaccination kits used during the Civil War era. ..

The kit is part of the Medical Collection at the Mutter Museum at the University of Doctors in Philadelphia, which includes a lancet and a small glass plate for mixing vaccine fluids collected from the blisters of a deliberately infected subject, and Material of tin box scab with sliding lid.

The method used in this white paper succeeded in recovering viral molecules from organic matter such as scabs, but also from nondestructive sampling of inorganic matter that did not contain evidence of organic matter such as tin boxes and glass slides. it was done. residue.

This discovery opens up new potential research areas Medical history Through non-destructive testing of materials previously associated with biological samples.

Researchers in the 1860s and 1870s practitioner Philadelphia uses a vaccinia virus strain, which was still propagated in human subjects. A relatively gentle relative of the deadly smallpox pathogen was introduced into the body and helped the recipient develop immunity to smallpox, usually by applying pus or scabs to skin scratches or cuts. ..

The most important concern about vaccine design is how close a vaccine strain is to the disease-causing one in terms of evolution to prevent the disease. Here, the vaccinia strain used for vaccination is actually very far related Virus Causes smallpox. The slow mutation rate of the orthopox virus, of which both vaccinia and smallpox are members, probably allows this “distant” protection.

“Vaccination is a wonderful process with a rich medical history that we should celebrate,” said Anna Daghan, a former postdoctoral researcher at McPhmer’s Department of Anthropology at the Canadian Public Health Office, who was the principal investigator of the study. I will. “The Medical Museum is an incredible repository of our past and our history. The new tools developed in this work will show you how medical sources, procedures and techniques change over time. You can investigate what you did.”