Details - Public Health Image Library(PHIL)

ID#:

15838

Caption:

This 1976 photograph depicts what was a variolator container from Ethiopia, which had contained variolation material of a powdery consistency that was used to vaccinate people against smallpox. The powdery substance was produced through the process of grinding up dried smallpox scabs taken from a smallpox patient, which would then be used to inoculate an uninfected person, thereby, producing a less severe, milder form of the disease in the newly infected individual. See PHIL 17596, for another view of this historical variolation container.