Vaccination for Small-pox

Edward Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination for small-pox, was born at a time when the patterns of British medical practice and education were (1) coming/undergoing gradual change.

Jenner was a country youth, the son of a clergyman. Because Edward was only five when his father died, he was (2) brought up/grown by an elder brother who was also a clergyman. Edward (3) visited/attended grammar school and at the age of 13 was apprenticed to a (4) near/ nearby surgeon. In the following eight years Jenner (5) acquired/inquired knowledge of medical and surgical practice that helped him much in his future work. On (6) graduating/completing his apprenticeship at the age of 21, he went to London and became the house pupil of John Hunter, who was on the staff of St. George's Hospital and was soon to become one of the most (7) prominent/top surgeons in London. Even more important, however, he was an anatomist, biologist, and experimentalist of the first (8) rank/range; not only did he collect biological (9) specimens/specimen but he also concerned himself with problems of physiology and function.

Smallpox was (10) widespread/broadspread in the 18th century, and occasional outbreaks of special intensity resulted in a very (11) high/highly death rate. Jenner, even as an apprentice, had been impressed by the fact that a person who had (12) been ill /suffered an attack of cow-pox, a relatively harmless disease that could be (13) contracted/contacted from cattle, could not take the small-pox, (14) that is/so could not become infected whether by accidental or intentional exposure to the small-pox. Thinking over this phenomenon Jenner (15) concluded/completed that cow-pox not only protected against small-pox but also could be transmitted from one person to another (16) as/like a deliberate mechanism of protection.

The story of the great breakthrough is well known. Complications were many. Vaccination seemed (17) common/simple, but the vast number of persons who practiced it did not necessarily (18) precede/follow the procedure that Jenner had recommended, and deliberate or unconscious innovations often (19) collaborated/lessened the effectiveness. Pure cow-pox vaccine was not always easy to obtain, nor was it (20) easy/common to preserve or transmit.

Despite errors and occasional chicanery, the process of vaccination spread (21) fastly/rapidly and the death rate from small-pox plunged. Jenner, although he received worldwide recognition and many honours, (22) made/did no attempt to enrich himself through his discovery and actually devoted so much time to the cause of vaccination that his (23) private/personal practice and his (24) private/personal affairs suffered (25) severely/several. In 1802 Parliament voted him a sum of Ј10,000 and in 1806 a (26) father/further sum of Ј20,000.

Jenner not only received honours but also (27) aroused/ arouse opposition and found himself subjected to attacks and calumnies, (28) in spite/despite which he continued his activities (29) in behalf/in sake of vaccination. His wife, (30) sick by/ill with tuberculosis, died in 1815, and Jenner retired from public life.

Exercise 41. Fill in the gaps with the words given.

aching / acute / chill / complication / cough / epidemics / evidence / fever / flu / identical outbreak / risk / signs / sore / symptoms / temperature / uncomplicated / vaccine

Influenza

Influenza is an (1)___, infectious, contagious disease of the respiratory tract, especially the trachea, colloquially called (2)___ or, less often, grippe. The (3)___ of a simple attack include dry (4)___, (5)___ throat, nasal obstruction and discharge, and burning of the eyes; more complex cases are characterized by (6)___, sudden onset of (7)____, headache, (8)___ of muscles and joints, and occasional gastrointestinal symptoms. In (9)___ cases, symptoms fade and (10)___ drops to normal in a few days; the (11)___ of death increases if the disease is accompanied or followed by viral pneumonia or bacterial pneumonia.

Since the 16th century, at least 31 influenza pandemics, which are very widespread (12)___, have been described. The most destructive epidemic of modern times, that of 1918, is estimated to have caused 20 million deaths; in the U.S. about 500,000 persons died, generally following the (13)___ of bacterial pneumonia.

The different types of influenza virus appear in cycles; for instance, the variant appearing in the 1978-79 season was (14)___ to the virus that was widespread during the early 1950s. Some (15)___ exists that pandemics occurring 60 to 70 years apart are caused by the same form of virus. Based on this theory, public health officials expected in 1976 that the same virus that caused the 1918 pandemic would reappear. When this form of the organism was isolated, (16)___ against it was prepared and mass inoculation was carried out in the U.S. No (17)___, however, of that form of influenza occurred.

Exercise 42. Fill in the gaps with the words given.

affecting / blood / deaths / diseases / effectively / extinction / fever / health / identification / infect / infectious / illnesses / outbreak / pandemics / physical / plague / poor / prevented / shrank / spread / temperature