Gareth Williams (2) (1952–)
Auteur van Angel of Death: The Story of Smallpox
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Over de Auteur
Gareth Williams is the owner of one of the most extensive collections of chess memorabilia in Europe, a collection that includes sets, boards, clocks, cards, prints, photos, ceramics, and more. He is author of The Amazing Book of Chess and is also a regular contributor to Chess Monthly and The toon meer Chess Collector magazines. toon minder
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- 1952
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- Scotland
UK - Geboorteplaats
- Glasgow, Scotland, UK
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- GARETH WILLIAMS is Professor of Medicine and former Dean of Faculty at the University of Bristol, UK. He has written or co-authored over 20 books, including the Textbook of Diabetes (BMA Book of the Year, 1997) and has contributed to more 30 others, including the Oxford Textbook of Medicine. He also writes general and humorous articles for a wider readership
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Gareth Williams, a professor of medicine at the University of Bristol, expertly and interestingly describes the history of smallpox from antiquity, when its telltale scars were found on Egyptian mummies, to the present day, where its legacy is most notable for the current anti-vaccination movement, particularly in the UK and United States.
The story of smallpox is intimately linked with the story of Western civilization and medicine. Its introduction to immunologically naïve native civilizations throughout the Americas decimated their populations and destroyed their cultures, permitting their easy conquest by colonialists. The “discovery” of vaccination by Edward Jenner — which is widely attributed to him but was practiced throughout the world for many years — saved millions of lives since its introduction, and led to the development of vaccines against other deadly pathogens. The study of smallpox was instrumental to the future understanding of microbes as the causative factor of many diseases such as tuberculosis, and the manner in which viruses infect human cells and convert them into virus making factories.
Despite his faults, Jenner, a marginally competent clinician and scientist, can rightfully be credited with introducing vaccination to Western medicine. He had many detractors, and fought throughout his life against those who insisted that vaccination was unnatural, ungodly and dangerous. His unyielding insistence that variola vaccination was safe and provided lifetime protection blinded him and his supporters from the cases of smallpox that occurred in previously vaccinated individuals. That, combined with resistance to compulsory vaccination and the draconian measures used to enforce vaccination laws, led to the birth of the anti-vaccination movement, which attracted those with concerns about the safety and efficacy of the smallpox vaccine, along with opportunistic practitioners who sought to make money on unproven methods of prevention and treatment of smallpox, religious conservatives and natural healers who believed that vaccination was immoral and in opposition to God’s laws, and civil libertarians that opposed it as a violation of their freedom and right to choose.
The main effect of the bitter war between the vaccinationists and anti-vaccinationists was opposition to vaccination, which costs the lives of thousands of children in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the perpetuation of the technique of variolation, in which pus from smallpox lesions was introduced into the skin of uninfected individuals to produce a local infection that was often less severe than the usual disease. Unfortunately many individuals did contract full blown smallpox and died as a result, and those who were not variolated and not previously infected often acquired smallpox from those who underwent this treatment. The anti-vaccination movement grew steadily from the time of Jenner, and continues to exist in the present day West, as current believers continue to use arguments from the 19th century to bolster their case.
Angel of Death is an excellent addition to the history of medicine, which is well researched and written, one that would have broad appeal to clinicians, scientists, and anyone else interested in this deadly disease and the birth of the anti-vaccination movement.… (meer)