Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Vaccine. 2020 Mar 10;38(12):2741-2745. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.01.077. Epub 2020 Feb 11.
The ancient technique of variolation (inoculation of the smallpox) which was introduced in the United States in 1721 was replaced by vaccination (inoculation of the cowpox) soon after the procedure was published by Edward Jenner in 1798. Benjamin Waterhouse is recognized as the introducer of smallpox vaccination in the United States having conducted the first vaccination in Boston on 8 July 1800, although other American physicians also played an important role in extending vaccination in the East Coast of the United States. A different route of introduction brought the smallpox vaccine from Mexico to New Mexico (March 1805) and Texas (April 1806) which at that time where part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The vaccine was brought to California in 1817 by Russian merchants who obtained it in Peru, where the vaccine had arrived in 1806 with the Spanish Philanthropic Expedition of the Vaccine. It took almost 150 years of vaccination efforts before the last natural outbreak of smallpox occurred in the United States in 1949.
古往今来，天花病毒一直肆虐横行，令人谈之色变。1721 年，人痘接种术（将天花病毒接种于人体以诱发轻症天花）传入美国，随后于 1798 年，爱德华·詹纳（Edward Jenner）发表了牛痘接种术（将牛痘病毒接种于人体以诱发轻症牛痘）的相关研究。本杰明·沃特豪斯（Benjamin Waterhouse）被公认为将天花疫苗引入美国的第一人，他于 1800 年 7 月 8 日在波士顿进行了首例牛痘接种。尽管其他美国医生在东海岸推广疫苗接种方面也发挥了重要作用，但引入疫苗的途径却有所不同。1805 年 3 月，天花疫苗从墨西哥传入新墨西哥州（现美国），1806 年 4 月传入德克萨斯州（现美国），而当时这两个地区均属于新西班牙总督辖区。1817 年，俄罗斯商人将天花疫苗带到加利福尼亚州，这些疫苗是他们在秘鲁获得的，而秘鲁的疫苗于 1806 年随西班牙慈善疫苗接种远征队抵达。经过近 150 年的疫苗接种努力，美国于 1949 年最后一次自然爆发天花。
