# Why not use cowpox? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2001, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-use-cowpox/85694 "2001-10-05T23:22:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fandango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5ac83/32.png) [@fandango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fandango)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-use-cowpox/85694/1 "2001-10-05T23:22:16Z")
Okay, so the vaccination for small pox was discovred because of a related disease, called cow pox that was by and large harmless. Would it be a good idea to expose people to cowpox so they’ll get an immunity to small pox? Vaccinations take a long time to grow, but people could spread cowpox easily. ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-use-cowpox/85694/2 "2001-10-06T00:07:00Z")
My WAG (and IANAD) is: Though smallpox is much more deadly than cowpox, cowpox still carries some risk in children/elderly/the immune suppressed/etc…so they prefer the vaccine. Not only that, but then you’d have to worry about cows getting it. Also of interest (from [here](http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/pox/history.html#Vaccination)) > [@](#): > > Although Jenner’s accomplishment was a landmark event in the history of medicine, the vaccine that was eventually used to eradicate small pox was made from vaccinia, not cow pox. The vaccinia virus, used as a live vaccine against small pox, is a relatively avirulent virus that is similar to cow pox, but its origins are not clearly understood. Inoculation with vaccinia causes a single pock at the site of injection, which dries up and scabs after about ten days, leaving a vaccination scar. By this time, the vaccinated individual has become immune to both vaccinia and small pox. > > Possible complications of vaccinia injection include eczema vaccinatum and postvaccinal encephalitis. Although the probability of either of these occuring is extremely small, the risk of having these side effects was declared to be greater than the risk of contracting small pox in the United States by 1971. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-use-cowpox/85694/3 "2001-10-06T00:36:16Z")
Vaccine’s much safer. Jenner originally made the connection because the milkmaids that were immune to smallpox had pustules on their hands from cowpox. Pustule is an ugly-sounding enough word that I shouldn’t need to explain further. ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-use-cowpox/85694/4 "2001-10-06T01:33:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Smeghead \* > \*\*Pustule is an ugly-sounding enough word that I shouldn’t need to explain further. \*\* This from a guy named Smeghead? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-use-cowpox/85694/5 "2001-10-06T04:53:25Z")
I resemble that remark…