Smallpox and The Columbian Exchange
Diseases to the New World
What is smallpox?
Smallpox is a diseases that was transferred from the Old World (Africa, Europe) to the New World (the Americas) along the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange brought new animals, foods, ideas between the two worlds. However, it did also spread deadly diseases, smallpox being one of them. Early symptoms can be high fevers and vomiting, it can lead to more serious symptoms such as lesions filled with pus all over the body.
Native Population
Smallpox was estimated to killed as much as 90-95% of the native population, someone could become infected from face to face contact with someone who already had the rash, it could be easily transferred from infected body fluids, and it's possible for virus to be transmitted through the air.
Vaccine
Introduced by Edward Jenner in 1798. He noticed that milkmaids exposed to cowpox appeared to be immune to smallpox. He tested his hypothesis by treating a boy with cowpox pus and next with smallpox. The experiment was a success.
Columbian Exchange
Goods such as maize, rice, and potatoes were being traded from the Old World to the New World across the Atlantic Ocean. Diseases were also spreading along the route.
Effect of smallpox
Once the diseases had spread, no one wanted to take blame for it. The Americas were not adapted to this disease unlike the Europeans, who had brought it over. The Europeans were immune to smallpox, since most of them had it earlier on and overcame it. Smallpox had become one of the biggest killers for the Americas. It was estimated that smallpox lasted for 12 days on a person, and after that they would have either died or survive. This greatly affected the population.