Variolation: Difference between revisions

The Chinese practiced the oldest documented use of variolation, dating back to the fifteenth century. They implemented a method of "[[nasal administration|nasal]] [[Insufflation (medicine)|insufflation]]" administered by blowing powdered smallpox material, usually scabs, up the nostrils. Various insufflation techniques have been recorded throughout the 16th and 17th centuries within China.<ref name="Williams2010">{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Gareth|title=Angel of Death|year=2010|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=Basingstoke|isbn=978-0230274716}}</ref>{{rp|60}} According to such documentation, mild smallpox cases were selected as donors in order to prevent serious attack. The technique used scabs that had been left to dry out for some time. Fresh scabs were more likely to lead to a full-blown infection. Three or four scabs were ground into powder or mixed with a grain of musk and bound in cotton. Infected material was then packed into a pipe and puffed up the patient's nostril. The practice of variolation is believed to have been [[ritual]]ized by the Chinese. The blowpipe used during the procedure was made of silver. The right nostril was used for boys and the left for girls.<ref name="Henderson2009">{{cite book|last=Henderson|first=Donald|title=Smallpox: The Death of a Disease|year=2009|publisher=Prometheus Books|location=New York|isbn=978-1591027225}}</ref>{{rp|45}} Variolated cases were treated as if they were as infectious as those who had acquired the disease naturally. These patients were subsequently kept apart from others until the rash had cleared. In the 18th century, the practice of using scabs from epidemic patients was seen as beneficial by some, but others were convinced of its danger; [[Kangxi Emperor|Emperor Kangxi]], however, approved of it.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Needham |first1=Joseph |last2=Lu |first2=Gwei-Djen |date=2000 |title=Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 6, Biology and Biological Technology, Part 6, Medicine |url=https://wwwbooks.google.co.ukcom/books/edition/Science_and_Civilisation_in_China_Volume/6bEZ8Hp8h5sC?gbpvid=06bEZ8Hp8h5sC |url-status=live |access-date=2 April 2022 |pages=139–140|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521632621 }}</ref> Two reports on the Chinese practice were received by the [[Royal Society]] in London in 1700; one by Dr. [[Martin Lister]] who received a report by an employee of the [[East India Company]] stationed in China, and another by the physician [[Clopton Havers]], but no action was taken.<ref>