- Balmis Expedition
Balmis Expedition was a three year mission to the
Americas led by DrFrancisco Javier de Balmis with the aim of giving thousands thesmallpox vaccine . He set off fromA Coruña on30 November 1803 . It may be considered the first internationalsanitary expedition in history1.King
Charles IV of Spain supported his royal doctor Balmis, since his daughter María Luísa had suffered the illness.The expedition occurred on the "Maria Pita" ship and carried 22 orphan boys (8 to 10 years old) as successive carriersin vivo of the vaccine, Balmis, a deputy surgeon, two assistants, two first-aid practitioners, three nurses, and Isabel López de Gandalia, the rectoress of "Casa de Expósitos" anA Coruña orphanage2.The course
The mission took the
vaccine to theCanary Islands ,Colombia ,Ecuador ,Peru ,Mexico , thePhilippines andChina .3 The ship carried also scientific instruments and translations of the "Historical and Practical Treatise on the Vaccine " byMoreau de Sarthe to be distributed to the local vaccine commissions to be founded.Puerto Rico
The local population was already inoculated with a vaccine carried from the Danish colony Saint Thomas.
Venezuela
The expedition divided at
La Guayra .
* José Salvany, the deputy surgeon, went toward today's Colombia and the Viceroyalty of Peru (Venezuela, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Bolivia). They took seven years and the toils of the voyage brought death to Salvany (Cochabamba , 1810).
* Balmis went to Caracas and later to Havana. The local poetAndrés Bello wrote an ode to Balmis.Mexico (1805)
In Mexico, Balmis took 25 orphans to maintain the vaccine during the crossing of the Pacific.
Philippines
They received help from the church. Balmis dismissed back to Mexico the gross of the expedition and went further to China.
China
Balmis landed on Macau and went also to Canton.
Return
On his way back to Spain, Balmis convinced the authorities of
Saint Helena (1806) to take the vaccine.The discoverer of the vaccine
Edward Jenner himself wrote "I don’t imagine the annals of history furnish an example of philanthropy so noble, so extensive as this.”Fictional account
Julia Alvarez wrote a fictional account of the expedition from the perspective of its only female member in "Saving the World".Notes
# [http://www.aytolacoruna.es/en/3ciudad/31presen/3125libe.html La Coruña: A progressive city] , historical information as part the official web site for the city of La Coruña. Verified availability 2005-03-03.
#McIntyre, John W.R. MB BS; and Houston, C. Stuart MD (1999). [http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/161/12/1543 Medicine in Canada: Smallpox and its control in Canada] . "Canadian Medical Association Journal" 161(12), 1543-1547. PMID 10624414.
#de Romo, Ana Cecilia Rodríguez (1997). [http://www.ucm.es/info/antilia/revista/vol3-en/arten3-1.htm Inoculation in the 1799 smallpox epidemic in Mexico: Myth or real solution?] . "Antilia:Spanish Journal of History of Natural Sciences and Technology".External links
* [http://www.doh.gov.ph/sphh/balmis.htm Society of Philippine Health History article]
* [http://www.aeped.es/balmis/libro-balmis.htm En el nombre de los Niños. Real expedición Filantrópica de la Vacuna 1803-1806] . Spanish language PDF book by the Spanish Pediatry Association.
* [http://www.paho.org/English/DPI/Number11_article6.htm An account of the expedition]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.