The New York Times has published a wonderful set of articles commemorating the end of this millennium. Several articles covering the best inventions, the best ideas, and the best story can be found. One article I was particularly interested in was the Best Medical Insight of the century. The best medical insight of the millennium, in the opinion of the New York Times, was the discovery of a vaccine for a disease that no longer exists on our planet. That disease is called smallpox.
In fact, work by Chinese medicine men, Lady Montagu, and Dr. Jenner led to a very valuable weapon in the the fight against diseases caused by microorganisms like the smallpox virus. That weapon is called vaccination. Children receive vaccinations that can prevent up to 10 different diseases by the time they are 12 years old. In fact vaccination has saved literally millions of peoples lives. Basically, if people are exposed to a portion of a microorganism, a dead microorganism, or a less deadly microorganism their immune system will develop resistance to a future infection by this microorganism. This does not work with all the organisms that infect our bodies for a number of reasons. However, some of the more serious infections can be prevented by vaccination.
How many of you worry that you or a family member will get polio, whooping cough (pertussis), diphtheria, smallpox, or lockjaw (tetanus)? In fact I dare say that some of you have not even heard of some of these diseases. Vaccination is indeed a marvelous weapon in the fight against disease. It is not a perfect solution but it has saved many peoples' lives and will continue to do so. Go read the article on the Best Medical Insight. I really enjoyed it and is worth reading.
Take Care and Think Microbiologically!
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