Cowpox Health Dictionary

Vaccinia is another term for cowpox, a disease in which vesicles form on the udders and teats of cows, due to the same virus as is responsible for SMALLPOX in humans. It is also the term used to describe the reaction to smallpox VACCINATION.... vaccinia

Edward Jenner was an English country practitioner (1749–1823). He had noticed that cowpox, which milkmaids caught from cattle, gave these women immunity from the scourge of SMALLPOX. In 1796 he transformed this observation into the medical technique of VACCINATION, innoculating a country boy with matter from the arm of a milkmaid infected with cowpox. Despite hostility from some doctors, Parliament voted him a grant of £10,000 for a society to promote vaccination and the technique spread worldwide, giving bene?t to an immense number of people.... jenner, edward

Named from vacca, Latin for cow, vaccination means inoculation with the material of cowpox, performed to a?ord protection to the inoculated person against an attack of SMALLPOX, or to reduce seriousness of, and averting a fatal result from, any such attack. The term is often used, inaccurately, to refer to IMMUNISATION.... vaccination

particles that occur in the cells of skin rashes in patients with *cowpox or *smallpox; they are thought to be the virus particles. [E. Paschen (1860–1936), German pathologist]... paschen bodies

n. one of a group of large DNA-containing viruses including those that cause *smallpox (variola) and *cowpox (vaccinia) in humans, and pox and tumours in animals.... poxvirus

n. an acute infectious virus disease causing high fever and a rash that scars the skin. It is transmitted chiefly by direct contact with a patient. Symptoms commence 8–18 days after exposure and include headache, backache, high fever, and vomiting. On the third day, as the fever subsides, red spots appear on the face and spread to the trunk and extremities. Over the next 8–9 days all the spots (macules) change to pimples (papules), then to pea-sized blisters that are at first watery (vesicles) but soon become pus-filled (pustules). The fever returns, often causing delirium. On the eleventh or twelfth day the rash and fever abate. Scabs formed by drying out of pustules fall off 7–20 days later, leaving permanent scars. The patient remains infectious until all scabs have been shed. Most patients recover but serious complications, such as nephritis or pneumonia, may develop. Treatment with thiosemicarbazone is effective. An attack usually confers immunity; immunization against smallpox has now totally eradicated the disease. Medical name: variola. See also alastrim; cowpox.... smallpox

n. a means of producing immunity to a disease by using a *vaccine, or a special preparation of antigenic material, to stimulate the formation of appropriate antibodies. The name was applied originally only to treatment with vaccinia (cowpox) virus, which gives protection not only against cowpox itself but also against the related smallpox. However, it is now used synonymously with inoculation as a method of *immunization against any disease. Vaccination is often carried out in two or three stages, as separate doses are less likely to cause unpleasant side-effects. A vaccine is usually given by injection but may be introduced into the skin through light scratches; for some diseases (such as polio), oral vaccines are available....  vaccination

adj. resembling a local infection with vaccinia (cowpox) virus. A vaccinoid reaction is one of the possible results of vaccination against smallpox in individuals who already have partial immunity. The swelling, reddening, and blistering are considerably less than the so-called primary reaction that occurs after the inoculation of a person with no immunity against smallpox.... vaccinoid

n. an infectious disease of animals that can be transmitted to humans. See anthrax; avian influenza; brucellosis; cat-scratch disease; cowpox; glanders; Q fever; Rift Valley fever; rabies; rat-bite fever; toxoplasmosis; tularaemia; typhus.... zoonosis