MY REAL LIFE EXAMPLE OF HOW OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM WORKS.
I WAS BORN IN 1942. KIDS BACK THEN HAD "CHILDHOOD DISEASES" AS A REGULAR PART OF LIFE.
HENCE AS A KID I HAD CHICKEN-POX.
I HAVE PRESENTED ON HERE AND ON MY YOUTUBE [KEITH MALCOLM HUNT] THE STUNNING KNOWLEDGE WE HAVE OBTAINED ABOUT CELLS, NUCLEUS, GENES, DNA, AND HOW OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM WORKS.
WHAT WE HAVE DISCOVERED ABOUT OURSELVES IN THE LAST 30 YEARS IS TRULY MIND-BENDING.
WE NOW KNOW IN DETAIL HOW OUR BODY WORKS, RIGHT DOWN TO OUR DNA, AND EXACTLY WHAT GOES ON INSIDE THE WORKINGS OF OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM, WHEN SOMETHING THAT IS NOT US, INVADES US TO DO HARM.
WE NOW KNOW EXACTLY HOW OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM GOES INTO ACTION TO FIGHT OFF THE ENEMY FROM WITHOUT; THE ENEMY LIKE VIRUSES.
BEFORE WE KNEW ALL THIS TECHNICAL STUFF, IT USED TO TAKE MANY YEARS TO MAKE AN EFFECTIVE VACCINE.
SO THE MEDICAL SCIENTISTS CAN NOW GO INTO ACTION ON MAKING VACCINES TO FIGHT OFF THIS PRESENT COVID INVASION OF THE LAST 20 MONTHS [I ENTER THIS IN DECEMBER 2021], IN LESS THAN A YEAR--- AS WE KNOW THE WORKINGS OF OUR GENES, DNA, AND IMMUNE SYSTEM.
I MET A YOUNG MAN ABOUT 15 YEARS AGO WHILE ATTENDING SOME MESSIANIC JEWISH SABBATH CONGREGATIONS. THIS YOUNG MAN WAS A REAL JEW. HE WAS FROM THE TORONTO AREA, OF CANADA. BUT BACK THEN HE DID A LOT OF NORTH AMERICA AND SOUTH AMERICA, TRAVELS, AND COULD END UP BACK IN CALGARY, ALBERTA. HE WOULD LOOK ME UP IF IN CALGARY.
THIS ONE TIME HE WAS IN MY TOWN, AND ASKED IF HE COULD STAY WITH ME OVER THE WEEKEND.
I SAID YES OF COURSE. OVER THE SABBATH HE WAS NOT FEELING VERY GOOD. HE FINALLY SAID, "I WILL GO TO THE WALK- IN CLINIC SUNDAY MORNING."
I WOULD BE AT THE RANCH WHEN HE DID THIS. I RETURNED AROUND SUPPER TIME. I IMMEDIATELY SAID, "SO WHAT DID THE DOCTOR HAVE TO SAY, AS TO WHY YOUR NOT FEELING SO GOOD."
"WELL I HOPE YOU'VE HAD IT, BECAUSE I HAVE CHICKEN-POX!"
I TOLD HIM I HAD CHICKEN-POX WHEN A KID.
NOW IF YOU GET CHICKEN-POX AS AN ADULT, IT IS WAY WAY WORST, THAN GETTING IT AS A KID.
MY FRIEND WAS ON HIS BACK IN MY APARTMENT FOR THE WHOLE WEEK, ONLY FEELING WELL THE FOLLOWING SABBATH.
NOW WHEN YOU GET SUCH A SICKNESS YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM GOES TO WORK, TELLING CERTAIN CELLS TO GO INTO ACTION, TO BUILD AN ARMY TO FIGHT THE OUTSIDE INVADER.
AFTER THE FIGHT MOST OF THE IMMUNE ARMY DIES OFF, BUT A SMALL GROUP REMAIN, AS A MEMORY ARMY, REMEMBERING WHAT THE ENEMY LOOKED LIKE AND ACTED LIKE, IN CASE THAT ENEMY TRIED TO INVADE ONCE MORE.
THIS FRIEND WITH CHICKEN-POX WAS IN MY APARTMENT, FLAT ON HIS BACK FOR A WEEK WITH THE CHICKEN-POX, POXING OUT OF HIS SKIN.
I WAS NOT A BIT CONCERNED ABOUT MYSELF; I HAD CHICKEN-POX AS A KID. NOW ALL THESE DECADES LATER, MY LITTLE ARMY IN MY IMMUNE SYSTEM REMEMBERED THE INVADER. MY SILENT LITTLE ARMY SAID, "O CHICKEN-POX IS IN THE HOUSE, BLOW THE BUDLE, MAKE MORE IMMUNE SOLDIERS, BE READY TO DISARM AND KILL ANY CHICKEN-POX THAT MAY WANT TO ATTACK."
AND SO WITH MY FRIEND RIGHT THERE IN MY LIVING ROOM [ONLY HAD ONE BEDROOM FOR MYSELF] ON HIS BACK FOR A WEEK, I WAS JUST FINE, AS IF HE WAS NOT EVEN THERE.
VACCINES INVENTED OVER DECADES FOR CHICKEN-POX, MUMPS, MEASLES--- ALL AT ONE TIME A PART OF KID'S DISEASES, ARE NO MORE--- KIDS TODAY DO NOT GET THOSE KID'S DISEASES--- THEY ARE VACCINATED AGAINST THEM--- AND THOSE VACCINES WORK!
IF THOSE KID'S DISEASES DO POP UP [AND NOW AND AGAIN THEY DO] IT IS 98% IN THE UN-VACCINATED KIDS.
FACE IT YOU IN THE WESTERN WORLD; HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU HEAR ABOUT AN OUT-BREAK OF CHICKEN-POX, MEASLES, MUMPS, IN A SCHOOL? JUST ABOUT NEVER TODAY.
IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO, GO ON THE INTERNET AND LOOK UP THE HISTORY OF SMALL-POX.
IT'S AN EYE-OPENER, WHICH INCLUDES A BLACK AFRICAN SLAVE BY THE NAME OF ONESIMUS (pronounced oh-NESS-see-muss).
WELL I'LL GIVE IT TO YOU----
How a Boston African Slave Helped Fight a Smallpox Epidemic
Learn how the actions of an African slave paved the way for the use of vaccines
As Black History Month begins and the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine continues, it's fitting to take a look at the historical roots of vaccines and the role an African slave played in how vaccines are used today. It's also compelling to note that the controversy surrounding vaccines has long historical roots as well.
Smallpox, a highly contagious and infectious disease, was rampant in New England and other American colonies in the early 1700s. This disease killed slaves, colonists and Native Americans alike and constantly made a home in crowded slave and cargo ships traveling from Africa and the Caribbean to Boston. In turn, it left the colonies no choice but to quarantine people and treat those who were sick. Sound hauntingly familiar?
In 1716, an African slave named Onesimus (pronounced oh-NESS-see-muss) told his owner, Cotton Mather, an influential Boston minister, that he knew how to prevent smallpox, and that he in fact had it and had been cured of it. The cure? A practice called variolation.
The process of variolation went like this:
- Infectious material (like pus) was gathered from the blisters of those with smallpox.
- Under the care of a doctor, a healthy person would have the infectious material carefully introduced into a cut in the skin.
Mather was distrustful, since as a Christian he looked down on what he considered Africans' “devilish rites," but he confirmed the success of variolation with other West African slaves, and through additional research learned that other countries (China and Turkey), were also practicing this treatment in a variety of ways and meeting with success. The hope was that smallpox symptoms would be milder and also create some degree of immunity in the future.
In 1721, 11,000 Bostonians, half of the city's population, had smallpox due to an epidemic spread from one British ship. By then, Mather had became a believer of the practice, which spurred him to advocate for and encourage variolation in the colonies.
His suggestion, however, was met with strong resistance. Many Bostonians did not like that this idea had foreign roots, particularly from Africa. Some even compared this notion to terrorism, according to The History of Vaccines website. Introducing this, some said, would be like willfully throwing “a bomb into a town."
Though proven effective in other countries, variolation was not without risks. Some people who underwent variolation still developed severe symptoms and even died from smallpox. However, the number of deaths were far less than in those who contracted the disease from another person naturally.
In fact, one Boston doctor who was also a slave owner took Onesimus' knowledge and Mather's encouragement of it to heart. Zabdiel Boylston used variolation on his son and his slaves. The result? Of those Boylston inoculated, one in 40 died of smallpox, while of those who contracted it naturally, one in seven died of smallpox.
Although the smallpox epidemic killed nearly 14% of Boston's population, Onesimus' sharing of the practice of variolation set the stage for vaccination. By 1796, the English physician Edward Jenner was able to create smallpox immunity with his cowpox vaccine. And by the mid-1800s, variolation was completely replaced with cowpox vaccine, a much safer and more effective alternative.
Smallpox now is literally history as a result. In 1980, the World Health Organization declared smallpox the only human disease to be eliminated entirely by a vaccine. And an African slave named Onesimus helped kick-start the beginning of its end.
“The rapid, successful development of the COVID-19 vaccines was only possible because of the foundation of knowledge built through centuries of advances from observers such as Onesimus and scientists who created earlier anti-viral immunizations," says Beverly Sha, MD, director of the Mark Weiss Memorial Clinic for Infection Diseases.
“Vaccines have helped us eliminate and/or control smallpox, measles, chickenpox and polio, and it will be what leads to the end of this pandemic," adds Sha, who also is a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Internal Medicine at Rush Medical College.
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