Page 6 - Pharmacy History 37 Nov 2009

By the 1820s, the most serious problem was the failure of imported smallpox vaccine as several people who had been vaccinated in NSW contracted smallpox on their return to Europe.
After the middle of the 19th
century, Western Australia was
the only Australian colony still receiving convicts from Britain, and the Surgeons Superintendent on board those convict ships coming
to Australia were given written instructions as to their duties whilst at sea, which in part read ‘you are to keep such a succession of vaccinated cases as may enable you to convey fresh virus to the colony and to obtain an acknowledgement from the medical officer of the colony, stating whether you have delivered to him any recent virus consequent upon vaccination of individuals during the voyage.’11
Up until 1881, the NSW Government received regular despatches of calf lymph from Bombay, as well as a constant, though small supply, of glycerolated vaccine from England, which it sometimes shared with the newer colonies of South Australia and Western Australia.12
It was about this time that the American physician and surgeon Henry Austin Martin introduced the production and use of non-humanised smallpox vaccine from the calf.
Unlike human lymph transmitted arm to arm, vaccine propagated serially in calves preserved potency, avoided vaccinal syphilis, and enabled manufacture in commercially profitable quantities. Dr Martin was also credited with standardising the vaccine virus. 13
No lymph was ‘cultivated’ in NSW which could have been disastrous should an epidemic have occurred, but after 1881, supplies were obtained
from vaccine stations in Victoria and New Zealand
Victorian production was first
started by a veterinarian, Graeme Mitchell, who produced calf lymph for smallpox vaccination privately on the site occupied by the present day Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in Victoria, near Melbourne. However, strict regulations were then in force to prevent anyone but a qualified medical practitioner giving vaccinations.
The original wooden building and stables for the calves, known initially as the ‘calf lymph depot’ and later as the ‘vaccine depot’, was taken over by the Victorian Government in 1883 and then by the Commonwealth Government in October 1911.14
As vaccine supplies became more reliable in the mid fifties, all of the Australian States except NSW and Queensland had passed acts requiring the compulsory vaccination of children below varying ages.
In addition, all of the states had established vaccine districts and appointed public vaccinators to ensure that protection against smallpox was widely available.15
Routine smallpox immunisation
in Australia came to an end in the 1970s, but the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories kept the vaccine on its inventory right through until the early 1990s when the decision was finally made to discontinue the product.
The outlay required developing a modern production process, along with the clinical trials and Regulatory requirements could not be justified commercially, and the Australian government would have to rely on an overseas supplier, should vaccination against smallpox ever become necessary again. 16
We have now come the full circle. Advances in refrigeration technology meant that a freeze-dried vaccine could be produced which was more potent and stable than the original vaccine, allowed easier transport and reduced the cost of bringing large amounts of vaccine to remote areas. As a result, in 1967, the World Health Organisation began implementing its plan to
intentionally eradicate a biological species from the earth. 17
By 1979 this was achieved and the demise of smallpox was regarded as one of the great triumphs of modern science.
However, we must also recognise
the achievements and the ingenuity of the early pioneers of smallpox prophylaxis in the 18th and 19th centuries, which are even more remarkable when it is remembered that their work was accomplished before the cause of the disease was known.18
References
1 2
3
4 5
6 7
8 9
10 11
12 13
14 15
16 17 18
Trinca J.C. Editor, CSL Medical Handbook 1966, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, Parkville Victoria.
Donald A. Henderson M.D. M.PH.Dean Emeritus Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene
& Public Health. Personal Communication, Oct.2004
James Bryce, ‘ Practical Observations on the Innoculation of cowpox’ 1809 Second Edition., Printed for William Creech & John Anderson. London
Gregory Haines. ‘The Grains and Threepenn’orths of Pharmacy.’ 1976. Lowden Publishing Company, Kilmore Victoria, Australia
Derrick Baxby. The Jenner bicentenary: the introduction and early distribution of smallpox vaccine. FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology 16 ( 1996) 1-10
Bulletin Of The History Of Medicine Vol. 55 1981, 17-33. The Johns Hopkins University Press
J.A.Dudgeon Development of Smallpox Vaccine in England in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. British Medical Journal May 1953 pps 1367-
H.A.Martin. Boston Medical & Surgical Journal vol 61, 1859. 374-378
William Husband MD Exposition of a Method of Preserving Vaccine Lymph Fluid & Active; 1860. John Churchill, London .1860
George L:.Mullins. Australian Medical Gazette. Dec 21 1896 p501-503
Instructions for Surgeons Superintendent on board convict ships proceeding to NSW or Van Deiman’s Land and for the masters of those ships 1846.Ref X10489 Wellcome Institute Library, London.
J.H.L Cumpston The History of Small Pox in Australia 1788-1908. Commonwealth of Australia, Government Printer
J.Buder. Henry Austin Martin’s smallpox vaccine correspondence 1877-1883. http://catalogue. wellcome.ac.uk
A.H.Brogan. ‘Committed to Saving Lives’ 1990. Hyland House, Melbourne Victoria.
J.H.L. Cumpston. The History of Smallpox in Australia 1788-1908. 1914 Govt.Printer Melbourne
Peter Hobbs, Medical Affairs Manager, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, Personal Communication October 2004
F.Fenner, D.A.Henderson, I.Arita, Z.Jezek, I.D.Ladnyi: Smallpox and its Eradication. W.H.O Geneva 1988
J.A.Dudgeon M.C., M.D., British Medical Journal 25 May 1963, pp 1367-1372. PAC 2009
6 Pharmacy History Australia
volume 5 no 37 NOVEMBER 2009