003 - Anomalous Vaccine Eruption

This is a very short report describing a case of smallpox in a child who had just been vaccinated. The child experienced the normal vaccine disease, but then soon after came down with a mild case of smallpox. Another child vaccinated from the diseased material of the first came down with the normal vaccine disease and nothing further, while a third vaccinated from the same source apparently didn't come down with any.

I'm not entirely sure why this is noteworthy. It could, I suppose, show that vaccination does not perfectly protect one against the disease, though it may render it milder. It seems possible that the immunity simply hadn't taken hold yet in the first child, before he caught smallpox (apparently there was a severe outbreak in his locality at the time). Hard to say.

Citation: Hawkins, C. J. Anomalous Vaccine Eruption. Prov Med J Retrosp Med Sci 6, 474 (1843).