The best protection against the deadly disease smallpox, for U.S. President John Adams, first lady, Abigail, and thousands of Americans at the turn of the 19th century seemed to be catching it on purpose.
Researchers do not understand why people, who contracted smallpox through contact with the sores of an infected person, experienced a low death rate and -- if they survived -- became immune for life, Duke University historian Elizabeth Fenn told United Press International.
Experts do not expect the United States will return to this dangerous form of disease control but with the threat of bioterrorism, attention on the colonial era's primitive treatment has increased.
A type of smallpox vaccine was developed in 1796 after an English country doctor noticed milkmaids, who fell ill with a milder disease called cowpox, never contracted smallpox.
The modern smallpox vaccine operates on the same principle. It exposes the body to cowpox, causing it to fight off the infection by creating antibodies for the immune system.

this reminds me of bio... bio test was rather okay today, considering that we didn't study... not much anyway. i've only glanced at nina's mindmaps (useful nifty things they are:)...and the only thing i could remember was hormones, hormones and more hormones. which helped i guess, considering that it came out in the essay:) how lucky i am:) one of the essay qns reminded me of what miss lee had given before though..oh welLz:)
i hope miss choo won't slaughter me tomorrow if only i hand up chapter 2... she seemed to be rather pleased when i handed up 'chapter 1: she was 'good', but nevertheless she died' punctually today, even ruffled my hair. haha:) i was totally amazed. grace and wanling seems to be extremely fast... having completed at least 3 chapters... ahz, freak me out.
.duck. situation today...if you don't know what it means, e-mail me... :) nothing much to write now...i'm feeling happy, i think sports release endorphins into your spinal cord as well... wellz, it does that for me:)-
-beautiful memories will linger on-
ah yes! before i end, jo was SCARY *grInz* i was standing near the pond, then all the fishes were coming towards me... then joanne came and said 'you know why the fishes are gathering here? because they think you're food'... then she nearly pushed me into the water. ahz wellz. poor wanling was kinda grabbed by me... *heh*
i think the word shock looks rather ... wellz, shocking. probably 'cos of the o in the middle, it kinda reminded me of the open mouth when someone is surprised:)