Spratley-type vaccinator, York, England, 1820-1910
The Spratley vaccinator used for smallpox vaccination has a spear-like head to prevent the blade going too deep into the skin. The blade would have been dipped in lymph material from a smallpox pustule. Pustules are skin blisters filled with pus that appear approximately five to eight days after vaccination. The blade would then be used to vaccinate another person. This type of arm-to-arm vaccination was made illegal in 1898, as it could transmit other diseases such as syphilis. Specially prepared animal lymph was used instead. Vaccination did not give life-long immunity and had to be repeated.
Object number:
A600047
Related Themes and Topics
Glossary:
Glossary: capillary tube
A glass tube with a very small internal diameter.
Glossary: immunity
The condition of being immune, the protection against infectious disease conferred either by the immune response generated by immunisation or previous infection or by other nonimmunologic factors.
Glossary: vaccinator
No description.
Glossary: syphilis
A sexually transmitted infection resulting in the formation of lesions throughout the body.
Glossary: lymph
Clear, slightly yellowish fluid derived from the blood and similar in composition to plasma. Lymph conveys white blood cells and some nutrients to the tissues.
Glossary: smallpox
Smallpox is an infectious virus unique to humans. It results in a characteristic skin rash and fluid-filled blisters. After successful vaccination campaigns throughout the 1800s and 1900s, the World Health Organisation certified the eradication of smallpox in 1979. Smallpox is the only human infectious disease to have been completely wiped out.
Glossary: pustule
A small inflammation of the skin, containing pus.