ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2015
The prevention and eradication of smallpox: a commentary on Sloane (1755) 'An account of inoculation'.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Applying principles of vaccine development to oncomicrobial vaccines.Blood advances · 2025Review
- Immunitas magistra vitae : The time has come to replace humanity's teacher of life.EMBO reports · 2025Article
- John Cross, epidemic theory, and mathematically modeling the Norwich smallpox epidemic of 1819.PloS one · 2024Article
- John Cross, epidemic theory, and mathematically modeling the Norwich smallpox epidemic of 1819.PloS one · 2024Article
- Phytochemicals as Invaluable Sources of Potent Antimicrobial Agents to Combat Antibiotic Resistance.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: Considerations for reluctance and improving vaccine uptake.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2022Review
- Face masking and COVID-19: potential effects of variolation on transmission dynamics.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2022Article
- Emergence of epidemic diseases: zoonoses and other origins.Faculty reviews · 2022Review
- Plasma cell immunoglobulin heavy chain repertoire dynamics before and after tetanus booster vaccination.Immunogenetics · 2021Article
- Impact of immunization programs on 11 childhood vaccine-preventable diseases in China: 1950-2018.Innovation (Cambridge (Mass.)) · 2021Article
- Patterns of smallpox mortality in London, England, over three centuries.PLoS biology · 2020Article
- Mandating immunity in the Ottoman Empire: A history of public health education and compulsory vaccination.Heliyon · 2020Article
- The 3Ds in virus-like particle based-vaccines: "Design, Delivery and Dynamics".Immunological reviews · 2020Review
- A review of the safety of vaccines used in routine immunization in Africa.African health sciences · 2020Review
- Humanized Mice for Live-Attenuated Vaccine Research: From Unmet Potential to New Promises.Vaccines · 2020Review
- A dynamic Bayesian Markov model for health economic evaluations of interventions in infectious disease.BMC medical research methodology · 2018Article
- Beyond the myths: Novel findings for old paradigms in the history of the smallpox vaccine.PLoS pathogens · 2018Article
- The Regulation of Inflammation by Innate and Adaptive Lymphocytes.Journal of immunology research · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Sir Hans Sloane's account of inoculation as a means to protect against smallpox followed several earlier articles published in Philosophical Transactions on this procedure. Inoculation (also called 'variolation') involved the introduction of small amounts of infectious material from smallpox vesicles into the skin of healthy subjects, with the goal of inducing mild symptoms that would result in protection against the more severe naturally acquired disease. It began to be practised in England in 1721 thanks to the efforts of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu who influenced Sloane to promote its use, including the inoculation of the royal family's children. When Edward Jenner's inoculation with the cow pox ('vaccination') followed 75 years later as a safer yet equally effective procedure, the scene was set for the eventual control of smallpox epidemics culminating in the worldwide eradication of smallpox in 1977, officially proclaimed by WHO in 1980. Here, we discuss the significance of variolation and vaccination with respect to scientific, public health and ethical controversies concerning these 'weapons of mass protection'. This commentary was written to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.