The Story of How I Survived ‘Smallpox’

This is a photo of my leg.

It was taken circa 2012 when I was living in a developing nation. ( I used to have a photo of my face covered in these sores, but that photo has since been lost to the ether).

The locals there call these sores ‘pala’ (it’s common, especially amongst children). Here in the West, I would have been swabbed for a staph infection.

150 yrs ago it would have been classed as smallpox.

When they claim to have ‘eradicated smallpox’ from the world, what they’re really claiming is to have eradicated a pathogen (if such a thing were possible, especially since neither Jenner’s early vaccine, nor the later glycerinated calf lymph vaccine, or the current one used for military personnel used the actual virus said to cause smallpox – but a related virus from the same family [1-2], and given to only some of the population – according to WHO estimates, less than 50% in some African countries, up to 80% in other countries.) [3]

What they did not eradicate is the disfiguring skin diseases that still plague people in poorer nations, and would have once been included in smallpox statistics.

I eventually recovered from that bout, after I relented and went to the catholic nuns clinic. It was run by little old nuns, who were kind, but didn’t mince words. We arrived there early in the morning, and there was already a small crowd milling around the front door and sitting on the long bench seats. I took a number (34, I still remember) and went back to the van to put my swollen, throbbing legs up. The sun climbed higher into the sky. The humidity of tropical wet season was stifling, and my 4mth old daughter was sweaty and cranky.

FINALLY, as the afternoon sun beat down mercilessly, my number was called. I hobbled past the benches of people still waiting, into the little clinic rooms. The nun made tssking noises as she liked at my sores, then instructed a local girl to fill a bucket of warm water with disinfectant in it. I sat with my legs in that warm water for 15 minutes or so, then a nun came with a pair of tweezers, and began to pull off the crusty scabs that covered the sores. Yeah, that was fun. But it was necessary, because until you got rid of the scab, the infection continued to fester away underneath.

When she finally finished, she dabbed the sores with a silver cream, then wound bandages around my feet and up my legs, and around my face. I bet I looked a sight. As I hobbled back out through the waiting area, past the few patients still waiting patiently in the humid heat, I could hear the murmers of pity.

As per the nun’s instructions, I had to bathe in the ocean each day. The first day I went to the ocean, happened to be at high tide, and the waves rushing past my legs was excruciating, as the weeping sores had again formed scabs that had to be washed off. It took more than 10 days for the sores to heal. I still have pockmarks on my lower legs, one inside my wrist, one on my chest, but mercifully none on my face.

Over the next several years, I had several bouts of this, but only ever when I was under stress, and each bout was less severe than the last. Each time, the sores were preceded by what seemed like itchy bites, that would appear overnight. I wondered if it was bedbugs, and in fact, approximately 120 years ago, one Texan doctor became convinced that bedbugs (Cimex Lectularius) were the true cause of smallpox.

Charles Campbell MD (1865 – 1931) was a remarkable doctor, who was nominated for a Nobel Prize, for his work on using bats to control mosquito populations. He also spent a number of years observing and conducting experiments surrounding bedbugs, as head of the ‘Pest House’ (where smallpox patients were quarantined and cared for). He observed that bed bugs were always present, where smallpox was present.

He noted that there was no evidence that bed bugs had existed in North America, until the white man arrived. (This would potentially explain why handing out blankets, which were likely inhabited by bed bugs, to Native American tribes, who were also presumably being introduced to the settler’s nutrient-poor foodstuffs, along with the stress and trauma of having their way of life up-ended) resulted in smallpox devastation of tribes.

(It could also explain why ‘sanitation’ worked so well in Leicestershire, England?)

Campbell also noted that smallpox began to recede as washing machines became commonplace [4].

My personal belief, at this point in time, is that some type of bite starts the process, and infection takes hold ONLY in individuals that are run down or nutrient depleted. Some of the pictures portraying smallpox victims covered in scabs, without so much as a space between scabs, could, I feel, potentially be explained by the conventional treatment methods used for smallpox at the time.

For example, one of the treatment methods was applying gauze that had been soaked in phenol (also known as carbolic acid), or bichloride of mercury [5]. Carbolic acid, of course, is highly corrosive and results in inflammation and blistering [6]. Daily baths containing bichloride of mercury were also used [7].

If patients became feverish (hardly surprising, given the skin infections and the mercury treatments) bromide drugs were given. One of the notable side effects of bromides is pustular skin eruptions – known as bromoderma, a sign of bromide toxicity [8]. A Google image search of bromoderma shows pustules that look similar to those attributed to smallpox.

[1] Esparza J, Schrick L, Damaso CR. Equination (inoculation of horsepox): An early alternative to vaccination (inoculation of cowpox) and the potential role of horsepox virus in the origin of the smallpox vaccine, Vaccine, 2017, 35(52): 7222-7230

[2] Damaso CR. Revisiting Jenner’s mysteries, the role of the Beaugency lymph in the evolutionary path of ancient smallpox vaccines, The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2018, 18(2):e55-e63.
[3] Belongia EA, Naleway AL. Smallpox vaccine: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Clin Med Res. 2003;1(2):87-92.

[4] Campbell C.A.R, Bats, Mosquitos & Dollars, The Stratford Company Publishers, Boston Massachusetts, 1925.

[5] Blumgarten AS. A Text Book of Medicine – For Students in Schools of Nursing, Macmillan, 1937.

[6] Science Lab, Phenol MSDS, Available at: HMDB00228.pdf. Accessed December, 2020].

[7] WOODSON RS. THE EPIDEMIC OF SMALLPOX IN. CUBA. JAMA. 1899;XXXII(8):409–410.

[8] Hoefel ID, Camozzato FO, Hagemann LN, Rhoden DL, Kiszewski AE. Bromoderma in an infant. An Bras Dermatol. 2016;91(5 suppl 1):17-19.

Compulsory Vaccination: History Repeating? (Part 1: England)

Regardless of your own personal beliefs regarding vaccination, the idea that a government can mandate a medical procedure without your consent, should be cause for concern to everyone (in addition, it contravenes basic human rights principles, in regards to informed consent, which must be freely given, “without coercion, undue influence or misrepresentation”) [1].

As we see governments around the world moving ever closer to forced vaccination, it behoves us to take a leaf from history, and remember what happens when the State assumes ownership of a person’s physical body.

The truth is that compulsory vaccination is not a new concept. It’s been tried before! In Part 1, we will take a closer look at how it worked out for England, with compulsory smallpox vaccination.

It began innocently enough, with the British Vaccination Act (1840).

Under this law, free vaccination was provided to the poor, to be administered by the Poor Law Guardians (while the original practice of ‘inoculation’ was outlawed). Many ‘poor and uneducated’, though, shunned the offer of free vaccination [2].

Thirteen years later, compulsory vaccination was introduced – despite evidence that smallpox mortality had been declining for many decades [3].

Compulsory Vaccination Act (1853)

This law required all babies up to the 3mths old (or, 4mths in the case of orphans) to be vaccinated. Parents who refused to comply faced fines of £1 (the equivalent of approximately one week’s wages for a skilled tradesman, and todays equivalent of approximately £80), or imprisonment.

Vaccination during those years was not the procedure that we know today. It was painful and inconvenient – for both parents and children, alike. The vaccinator used a sharp surgical knife (known as a lancet), to make incisions into the flesh, in a scored pattern. This was usually done in several different places on the arm. Vaccine lymph was then smeared into the cuts. Infants were to be brought back to vaccination stations, eight days later, in order to have the pus harvested from their blisters, to be used on other waiting infants [2].

In an era where doctors were incensed at the idea that postnatal infections were caused by their failure to wash their hands after handling dead bodies, and drinking and bathing water was often contaminated with raw sewage, it is hardly surprising that deaths caused by infections of the skin, such as erysipelas, increased as vaccinations were increasingly enforced [4].

The routine treatment of smallpox involved mercury or phenol (otherwise known as carbolic acid, which is highly corrosive, and causes blistering of the skin, on its own) applied topically to sores. Mercury gargles in the throat were also employed. If the patient became delirious (which would hardly be surprising, given the frequent use of mercury), they were given morphine or bromides – which also causes pustular eruptions of the skin [5].

Vaccination Act amendment (1867)

The law was extended to include all children up to 14yrs of age (in order to capture all the children who had ‘snuck through the cracks’, during the previous 14 years of compulsory vaccination). This law introduced continuous fines and cumulative penalties.

In other words, parents could be fined continuously with increasing prison sentences for non-compliance. The UK Court Hansard notes the case of a Mr. Pearce of Andover who, up until 1877, had been convicted some 40 times [6].

Also noted, was the case of Mr. Joseph Abel, who was convicted 11 times over a 14mth period, for refusing to have his child vaccinated [7].

Further amendment (1871)

Ironically, the law was further tightened in 1871, the same year a deadly smallpox epidemic raged through Europe and Britain – regarded by many as the most destructive epidemic during that entire century [8]. The UK suffered approximately 42,000 deaths, over the course of two years.

The new law made it compulsory for all local authorities to hire Vaccination Officers, and introduced fines of 20 shillings (the equivalent of 4 days wages for a skilled tradesman) for parents who refused to allow pus to be collected from their children’s blisters, for public vaccination.

The Leicester Mercury reported the case on a Mr. George Banford, who “had a child born in 1868. It was vaccinated, and after the operation the child was covered with sores, and It was some considerable time before it was able to leave the house. Again Mr Banford complied the the law in 1870. This child was vaccinated by Dr. Sloane in the belief that by going to him they would get pure matter. IN that case erysipelas set in, and the child was on a bed of sickness for some times. IN the third case the child was born in 1872, and soon after vaccination, erysipelas set in, and it took such a bad course that the expiration of 14 days the child died.”

It will come as no surprise, that Mr. Banford refused to have his next child vaccinated…and was fined 10 shillings, with the option of seven days imprisonment [9].

Meanwhile, resistance raged on, especially in the town of Leicester, where rallies attracted crowds up to 100,000 [10]. The resistance was such, that some local magistrates and politicians declared their support for a parent’s right to choose, and a Parliamentary Inquiry was eventually held, which sat for 7 years, and finally agreed to amend the laws.

It should be noted here that compulsory vaccination proved to be the ‘thin edge of the wedge’ for governmental incursion of bodily autonomy and personal liberty.

The Contagious Diseases Acts of 1864, 1866, and 1869, were passed very quietly and suddenly, with little fanfare (it was considered unseemly to discuss such matters). The laws were aimed at preventing sexually-transmitted diseases in the Armed Forces where 1 in 3 sick cases were caused by venereal diseases. Instead of targeting members of the Armed Forces, though, the law targeted women who were suspected of prostitution [11].

These women were apprehended by police, and forced to have their genitals inspected by a doctor (no doubt, male), and if found to be infected, confined in a lock hospital for treatment, for up to 3 months. Refusal to co-operate resulted in imprisonment, with possibility of hard labour [12].

Once registered under the Act, she was expected to show up at a designated inspection station, to be inspected, every two weeks [13].

During the 1860’s, there were approximately 26,000 prostitutes known to police, while other estimates say there may have been up to 368,000 prostitutes. The vast majority of these women were poor and uneducated, and resorted to prostitution to survive [13].

After the 1866 amendment, she could be confined to hospital for treatment, for up to 12 months.

The typical treatment for syphilis during that era would most likely have been mercury rubs. Later, the severe side effects of mercury became too obvious to ignore, and it was replaced by injections of arsenic.

Ironically, there were numerous instances reported, whereby syphilis was transmitted via smallpox vaccination [14-15].

The burgeoning feminist movement fiercely opposed the Contagious Diseases Acts, on the basis that they unfairly discriminated against women, and were undertaken in a most humiliating fashion. There was a lot of common ground between the early feminist movement fighting against the Contagious Diseases Acts, and the anti-vaccinationists. Indeed, feminist leader, Josephine Butler, who spearheaded the campaign to repeal the Contagious Diseases Acts, also served in the Mother’s Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League [16].

In addition to the Contagious Diseases Act, the Notification of Infectious Diseases Acts in 1889, and 1899 required that all contagious diseases, except tuberculosis (which is curious, since it was a major killer at the time) be reported to the local medical officer, who could then forcibly remove the patient to hospital, whether they consented or not. Household contacts and doctors who failed to notify the local medical officer were liable for fines of up to 40 shillings [17].

Again, the accepted medical treatment of the time most likely involved mercury or arsenic.

Finally, after forty-five years of protests, fines and imprisonments, the Vaccination Act (1898) promised some respite to parents – it removed cumulative penalties, and allowed for a conscientious clause to be added. This Act introduced the concept of ‘Conscientious Objection’ into English law. However, parents were still required to satisfy, not one, but two magistrates of their legitimate concerns and objections, in order to gain an exemption. For a number of years (until further amendments were made in 1908), many magistrates simply refused to issue the exemption to parents, resulting in continuing fines.

The UK Court Hansard reveals the case of one applicant, who was told by his local magistrate that “such people as the applicant ought to be set on an island by themselves and die of smallpox” [18].

The 1898 law had also outlawed arm-to-arm vaccination, which was replaced by vaccination of calf lymph, which was deemed to be safer. With little government oversight, however, many entrepreneurial types saw it as a way to make easy money, supplying cheap vaccines which, occasionally included dust, hair, and even animal dung [19]. Cases of tetanus, and other infections following vaccination, continued to be reported.

In 1908, when government realized that magistrates were failing to carry out the 1898 law, it was amended further, to allow parents to make a statutory declaration of their objections to vaccination, within four months of birth.

By 1921, only 40% of English infants were being vaccinated [19].

[1] United Nations General Assembly, 64th Session, 10th August, 2009. Available at: https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4aa762e30.pdf. Accessed September, 2019.

[2] Durbach N. They Might As Well Brand Us: Working Class Resistance to Compulsory Vaccination in Victorian England, Soc Social Hist Med, 2000, 13:45-62.

[3] McCulloch JR. A Descriptive and Statistical Account of the British Empire, Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, London, 1854. Available online at: https://archive.org/details/adescriptiveand00mccugoog/page/n654. Accessed September, 2019.

[4] Deaths from Erysipelas After Vaccination, 1859-1880, Vaccination Inquirer, Vol 5, p.84.

[5] Blumgarten AS. A Textbook of Medicine – For Students in Schools of Nursing, Macmillan, 1937.

[6] Hansard, Deb 17 April 1877 vol 233 cc1267-8, Available at: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1877/apr/17/vaccination-acts-prosecutions-case-of-mr#S3V0233P0_18770417_HOC_12. Accessed September, 2019.

[7] Hansard, Deb 11 June 1877 vol 234 cc1569-71, Available at: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1877/jun/11/vaccination-act-prosecutions-case-of. Accessed September, 2019.

[8] Lankester E. The Smallpox Epidemic, Nature, 1871, 3:341-342.

[9] Leicester Mercury, 10th March, 1884.

[10] Porter D, Porter R. The politics of prevention: anti-vaccinationism and public health in nineteenth-century England. Med Hist. 1988;32(3):231–252.

[11] Walkowitz JR. Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class and the State, Cambridge University Press, 1982.

[12] Hamilton M. Opposition to the Contagious Disease Acts, 1964 – 1886, Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned With British Studies, 1978, 10(1):14-27.

[13] Ibid. See #11.

[14] Syphilis conveyed by the vaccine lymph to 46 children, The Lancet, Nov 16. 1861.

[15] Lee H. Lectures on syphilitic inoculation in 1865,1866, The Lancet, 87(2224):391-394.

[16] Johnston RD. The Radical Middle Class: Populist Democracy And The Question of Capitalism, Princeton University Press, 2013, p185.

[17] Mooney G. Public Health versus Private Practice: The Contested Development of Compulsory Infectious Disease Notification in Late-Nineteenth Century Britain, Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 1999, 73(2):238-267.

[18] Hansard, HC Deb 06 March 1902 vol 104 c588 https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1902/mar/06/bakewell-anti-vaccinationists#S4V0104P0_19020306_HOC_119. Accessed September, 2019.

[19] Ibid. See #16.

Vaccines & Infertility

In 2012, the British Medical Journal published a case report of a 16-year-old girl who received a cervical cancer vaccine towards the end of 2008. Following that, her menstrual periods became irregular and scant, and by 2011, her menstrual cycle had ceased altogether.

Upon further inspection, it was discovered that all of her remaining eggs were dead – she was totally and irreversibly infertile, at just 16 years of age [1].

Other cases of premature ovarian failure in young women following vaccination for cervical cancer have since come before the courts [2].

A recent study (2018) analysed information representing 8 million 25-to-29-year-old US women between 2007 and 2014.

Approximately 60% of women who did not receive the HPV vaccine had been pregnant at least once, whereas only 35% of women who were exposed to the vaccine had conceived [3].

It is not just the HPV vaccine raising questions about possibly fertility effects. Research also shows increased risk of miscarriage after influenza vaccination during pregnancy [4]. [

Note that multi-dose vials of influenza vaccine still contain mercury in the form of thimerosal – the Chinese were using mercury as an abortifacient up to 5000 years ago [5].

Globally, the fertility rate has more than halved since 1960.

Fifty-nine countries, representing 46% of the global population, now have fertility rates below replacement level [6].

Of course, much of that has been by choice, through women’s rights movements, access to contraceptives, changing religious beliefs, along with increased living standards and higher education (not to mention a very aggressive ‘family planning’ push through WHO, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others – more on that in a later post), but clearly not all of the plummeting fertility rate has been by choice…

An international team of scientists analysed data from nearly 43,000 men in dozens of industrialized countries and found that sperm counts have dropped by more than half over the past four decades [7].

Peter Schlegal, professor and chairman of urology at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, and vice president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, says “Since this is the best study that’s ever been done, it is concerning that it suggests such a progressive and dramatic decrease in sperm counts over time.”

“Since we don’t know what could be causing it, it’s worrisome” [8].

Numerous studies also reveal that testosterone levels in men have declined substantially over the past decades [9-11]

Over the past decades, girls in Western countries have also been reaching puberty at younger and younger ages… [12]

There is evidence to suggest that earlier puberty, coupled with no children, doubles a woman’s risk of early menopause [13].

Is there a possibility that vaccines could somehow contribute to lower sperm counts, earlier puberty and menopause, not to mention the growing numbers of women suffering hormonal issues such as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), estrogen dominance etc?

Given that no vaccine on the market has been tested long-term for ability to damage or impair fertility, we are left to theorize about potentials and correlations. Certainly, there are a number of ingredients used in vaccines that are possible ‘red flags’.

Aluminium: Used as an adjuvant in numerous vaccines, such as Hepatitis B (first dose administered within hours of birth), and HPV vaccines (given to 11-13yo boys and girls), is a metalloestrogen. It belongs to a class of metals that are capable of binding to oestrogen receptors and mimicking the action of physiological oestrogen [14]. Mercury is also a metalloestrogen.

Glutaraldehyde: Classified as a reproductive toxin in females, and suspected reproductive toxin in males, capable of inducing DNA damage in mammals [15], is found in DTaP vaccines given to infants as young as 6 weeks.

Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide: A surfactant used in some influenza and typhoid vaccines.

No data available on its ability to cause cancer, birth defects or DNA damage, however, animal test data suggests it may cause adverse reproductive effects and birth defects. May also be toxic to the liver, cardiovascular and nervous systems [16].

2-Phenoxyethanol: According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2-phenoxyethanol is the same as ethylene glycol, which has been shown to cause “wasting of the testicles, reproductive changes, infertility and changes to kidney function” [17].

Sodium borate, or Borax: Used in the Hepatitis A and HPV vaccines, and is added as a buffer, to “resist changes in pH, adjust tonicity and maintain osmolarity” [18].

Animal studies “show that the primary targets for borate toxicity are the developing fetus and the male reproductive system”. (Note that adolescent boys are now being targeted for HPV vaccination.)

Reproductive effects included atrophy of the testes and infertility [19].

Those are the ingredients we know about. What about vaccine contaminants, which scientists admit there is no possible way to screen for all potential contaminants [20-22], and even if there were, the FDA and other regulatory agencies only offer ‘guidance’ on how vaccine manufacturers ‘should’ screen vaccine lots [23]?

In 2003, three states in Northern Nigeria boycotted the oral polio vaccine, due to the alleged discovery of contaminants, including trace amounts of estrogen. The boycott lasted for 15 months [24].

In 2015, Catholic Bishops in Kenya announced that they had tested vials of the tetanus vaccine, then being used to vaccinate women of child-bearing age, and found them laced with beta-HCG, a pregnancy hormone [25]

The Catholic Church operates about 30% of health clinics in Kenya, and is not opposed to vaccination per se [26], but suspicions began to arise over the secrecy surrounding the WHO/UNICEF vaccination campaign (vials were delivered to health clinics under police guard, and empty vials returned to Nairobi, also under police guard), and the unusual policy of 5 doses of tetanus toxoid vaccine, administered every 6 months [27].

One of the laboratories used to test the vaccines for contaminants, Agriq-Quest, later had their license suspended by the Kenyan government. Agriq-Quest, however, claimed it was because they refused to doctor the samples to show the vaccines were clean [28].

As Oller et al (2017) noted: “…WHO biomedical researchers have been working to engineer such an “anti-fertility” vaccine for “birth-control” at least since 1972. Research published in 1976 confirmed that recipients of a vaccine containing βhCG chemically conjugated with TT (tetanus toxoid) develop antibodies not only against TT but also against βhCG. The result, first reported by WHO researchers at a meeting of the US National Academy of Sciences, is a “birth-control” vaccine that diminishes the βhCG essential to a successful pregnancy and causes at least temporary “infertility”. Subsequent research showed that repeated doses can extend infertility indefinitely” [29]

During the 1990’s, numerous reports surfaced that millions of women in Nicaragua, Mexico and Phillipines had been targeted by WHO ‘anti-fertility’ vaccination campaigns, under the guise of ‘eliminating neonatal tetanus’ [30].

More recently, In December, 2018, Italian research group, Corvelva, announced that they had received a donation from the Italian National Order of Biologists, and intended to test the contents of every vaccine currently on the market.

Their results so far have been disturbing. For instance, their testing of Hexyon 6-in-1 infant vaccine (recently approved for use in the US, beginning in 2020, under a different trade name) not only revealed a conspicuous absence of some antigens meant to be in there, they also noted the presence of many contaminants not meant to be in there [31]!

These included:

Diethylatrazine: Pesticide, second most widely used pesticide in the US (after glyphosate), but banned in Europe due to persistent groundwater contamination. It is suspected to be an endocrine disrupter and reproductive toxin. Studies found that the chemical caused male frogs to develop female characteristics, possibly because testosterone levels decreased by 10 times, when exposed to atrazine at just 25 ppb (parts per billion) [32]

Sulfluramid: Insecticide (which contains fluoride), not approved for use in EU. Was due to be phased out in US by 2016. Used in a variety of termite, ant and cockroach baits. Animal studies suggest that sulfluramid may adversely affect the reproductive system, especially in males, and/or cause infertility in males [33]

References:

[1] Little DT, Ward HR. premature ovarian failure 3 years after menarche in a 16-year-old girl following human papillomavirus vaccination, BMJ Case Reports, 2012, doi:10.1136/bcr-2012-006879.

[2] Wetzstein C. HPV Vaccine Cited in Infertility Case, The Washington Times, November 11, 2013.

[3] DeLong G, A lowered probability of pregnancy in females in the USA aged 25–29 who received a human papillomavirus vaccine injection, Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, 2018, 81(14): 661-674]

[4] Donahue JG, Kieke BA, King JP et al, Association of spontaneous abortion with receipt of inactivated vaccine containing H1N1pdm09 in 2010-11 and 2011-12, Vaccine, 2017, 35(40):5314-5322.

[5] Tietze C and Lewit S, Abortion, Scientific American, 1969, 220:21.

[6] Cheadle C, Dropping Fertility Rates are a Threat to the Global Economy, Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/dropping-fertility-rates-will-affect-the-economy-2016-11?IR=T. Accessed March, 2019.

[7] Levine H, Jørgensen N, Martino-Andrade A, et al, Temporal trends in sperm count: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis, Human Reproduction Update, 2017, 23(6): 646–659.

[8] Stein R, Sperm counts plummet in western men, study finds, NPR, 31st July 2017, https://www.npr.org/2017/07/31/539517210/sperm-counts-plummet-in-western-men-study-finds. Accessed February, 2019.

[9] [Andersson AM, Jensen TK, Juul A et al, Secular Decline in Male Testosterone and Sex Hormone Binding Globulin Serum Levels in Danish Population Surveys, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2007, 92(12): 4696–4705.

[10] Travison TG, Araujo AB, Amy B. O’Donnell AB, et al, A Population-Level Decline in Serum Testosterone Levels in American Men, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2007, Volume 92(1): 196–202.

[11]Perheentupa A, Mäkinen J, Laatikainen T, et al Vierula, M., Skakkebaek, N., Andersson, A., & Toppari, J. A cohort effect on serum testosterone levels in Finnish men, European Journal of Endocrinology, 2013, 168(2): 227-233.

[12] Boaz NT, Essentials of biological anthropology, 1999, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

[13] Thacker HL, Does early menstruation mean earlier menopause? https://speakingofwomenshealth.com/column/does-early-menstruation-mean-early-menopause. Accessed February 2019.

[14] Darbre P, Metalloestrogens: an emerging class of inorganic xenoestrogens with potential to add to the oestrogenic burden of the human breast, J Appl Toxicol, 2006, 26(3): 191-197.

[15] Science Lab. MSDS Glutaraldehyde, http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9924161. Accessed October, 2017.

[16] Science Lab. MSDS Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9923367. Accessed October, 2017.

[17] Santa Cruz Biotechnology Inc. MSDS: 2- phenoxyethanol, http://datasheets.scbt.com/sc-238193.pdf. Accessed October, 2017.

[18] The Immunization Advisory Centre. Vaccine Ingredients Factsheet for Parents and Caregivers, http://www.immune.org.nz/vaccines/vaccine-development/vaccine-components. Accessed October, 2017.

[19] U.S. Forest Service. Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment for Borax Final Report, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ac73/7b23b40f58669398317e30efe51833c361c5.pdf. Accessed October, 2017.

[20] Stang A, Petrasch- Parwez E, Brandt S, et al. Unintended spread of a biosafety level 2 recombinant retrovirus, Retrovirology, 2009, 6:86.

[21] Veerasami M, Chitra M, Mohana Subramanian B, et al. Individual and multiplex pCR assays for the detection of adventitious bovine and porcine viral genome contaminants in the commercial vaccines and animal derived raw materials, J Vet Sci Tech, 2014, 5:3.

[22] Marcus-Sekura C, Richardson JC, Harston RK, Sane N, Sheets RL. Evaluation of the Human Host Range of Bovine and Porcine Viruses that may Contaminate Bovine Serum and Porcine Trypsin Used in the Manufacture of Biological Products. Biologicals : Journal of the International Association of Biological Standardization. 2011;39(6):359-369.

[23] FDA. Guidance for Industry: Content and Format of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls Information and Establishment Description Information for a Vaccine or Related product, https://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBloodVaccines/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/Vaccines/ucm092272.pdf. Accessed March 2019]

[24] ABC News, Vaccine Boycott Grows in Northern Nigeria, 24th February, 2004.

[25] Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops: Press Statement by the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, http://www.kccb.or.ke/home/news-2/press-statement-by-the-kenya-conference-of-catholic-bishops/. Accessed March, 2019.

[26] Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops: Catholic Health Commission of Kenya, http://www.kccb.or.ke/home/commission/12-catholic-health-commission-of-kenya/. Accessed March 2019.

[27] Oller, JW, Shaw CA, Tomljenovic, L., et al, HCG Found in WHO Tetanus Vaccine in Kenya Raises Concern in the Developing World. Open Access Library Journal, 2017, 4: e3937.

[28] Obara V, License of industrial lab Agriq-Quest suspended, Business Daily, 12th January, 2017, https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate-News/Licence-of-industrial-lab-Agriq-Quest-suspended/539550-3515280-j78flcz/. Accessed March, 2019.

[29] Oller, JW, Shaw CA, Tomljenovic, L., et al, HCG Found in WHO Tetanus Vaccine in Kenya Raises Concern in the Developing World. Open Access Library Journal, 2017, 4: e3937.

[30] Ibid

[31] Corvelva, Study on the chemical composition of Hexyon, Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12e3O0cT1hSMGULzvFg3DcoM_XyGZMRur/view. Accessed 24th January, 2019.

[32] Hayes TB, Collins A, Lee M, Mendoza M, Noriega N, Stuart AA, Vonk A, Hermaphroditic, demasculinized frogs after exposure to the herbicide atrazine at low ecologically relevant doses, Proc Nat Acad Sci, 2002, 99(8): 5476-5480.

[33] US EPA memorandum, “Sulfluramid – Amount of A.I. in Raid Max Roach Bait.” To Mike Mendelsohn, PM Team Reviewer, Registration Division (7505C). From Linda L. Talor, Ph.D., Toxicology Branch II, Health Effects Division (7509C) and Marcia van Gemert, Ph.D., Chief, Toxicology Branch II/HED (7509C), August 10, 1994.].

15 Reasons Why Millions of People Once Died From ‘Infectious’ Disease

1. OVERCROWDING

During the 19th century, the population of London swelled by more than six-fold, from 1 million to more than 6 million inhabitants, to become the largest city in the world [1].

All across the western world, as the Industrial Revolution took hold, vast numbers of rural folk moved into towns and cities. For example, in 1750, only 15% of the population lived in towns, but by 1880, a massive 80% of the population were urban dwellers [2]. The Industrial revolution, and city living, promised a better life but, for many, it became an unimaginable nightmare.

With housing in short supply, unscrupulous landlords turned buildings into tenements, and leased every spare inch to desperate families – dingy damp cellars, fire-trap attics and under-stair storage rooms, many without any ventilation or light. Just imagine the damp, mouldy air that these people were constantly breathing – it’s hardly a wonder that tuberculosis and pneumonia were the biggest killers, accounting for one-fifth of all deaths [3].

Disease and death were distressingly close in these crowded quarters: “…the report of a health officer for Darlington in the 1850’s found six children, aged between 2 and 17, suffering from smallpox in a one-roomed dwelling shared with their parents, and elder brother and an uncle. They all slept together on rags on the floor, with no bed. Millions of similar cases could be cited, with conditions getting even worse as disease victims died and their corpses remained rotting among families in single-roomed accommodations for days, as the family scraped together pennies to bury them” [5].

2. LACK OF PLUMBING

Entire streets had to share one outdoor toilet, which was usually in foul condition – cleaning supplies were expensive, and flies hung around in droves (and then made their way through open windows to nearby kitchens etc), and of course, diarrhoea was ever-present!

Sewerage drained into waterways via open channels in the streets and lanes, or simply lay stagnant in stinking cesspools of filth.

Henry Mayhew was an investigative journalist who, in 1849, described a London street with a ditch running down it, that contained the only drinking water available to residents. He said it was ‘the colour of strong green tea’, and ‘more like watery mud than muddy water’.

‘As we gazed in horror at it, we saw drains and sewers emptying their filthy contents into it; we saw a whole tier of doorless privies (toilets) in the open road, common to men and women built over it; we heard bucket after bucket of filth splash into it’ [6].

3. CONTAMINATED DRINKING WATER

With no environmental laws in place, raw sewage poured into drinking water supplies, as did run-off and toxic waste from factories and animal slaughterhouses.

 “The spill-off from the slaughter-houses and the glue factories, the chemicals of the commercial manufacturers, and all of Chicago’s raw sewage had begun to contaminate the drinking water” [7].

In London, the River Thames, which was the source of drinking water for many Londoners, became a stinking flow of excrement and filth, as human, animal and industrial waste was dumped into it. “In the heatwave of 1858, the stagnating open sewer outside Westminster’s windows fermented and boiled under the scorching sun” [8].

During a cholera epidemic in London, in 1854, Dr John Snow realized that the only people who seemed to be completely unaffected were the workers at a local brewery – they were drinking beer instead of water [9]! The discovery that disease could be spread via water was revolutionary, and paved the way for massive sanitary reforms

4. CONTAMINATED FOOD SUPPLY

With slow, unreliable transport, and no refrigeration, food was often past its use-by date. Diseased and rotting meat was made into sausages and ham. ‘Pigs are largely fed upon diseased meat which is too far gone, even for the sausage maker, and this is saying a great deal; and as a universal rule, diseased pigs are pickled and cured for ham, bacon etc’ [10].

Milking cows were often fed on ‘whisky slops’ and other rotting, cheap food, and therefore became diseased. ‘New York’s milk supply was also largely a by-product of the local distilleries, and the milk dealers were charged with the serious offense of murdering annually eight thousand children’ [11].

Before pasteurization, milk was treated with formaldehyde to prevent souring [12].

‘Fresh’ produce, when it was available, was not so fresh after all – often slimy, putrid and unfit for human consumption [13].

5. ABSENT MOTHERS

During the 19th century, countless mothers died during, or soon after, childbirth.

There were a number of reasons for this:

a) Rickets, and malnutrition in general, was rife,

b) Doctors, who had impinged into the female-only world of childbirth, took offense at the idea they had dirty hands, and refused to wash them [14],

c) chloroform and forceps were used unnecessarily, even in uncomplicated labours [15]

If the baby survived past infancy, they could generally look forward to a life of malnutrition, hard labor and improper care, often performed by older siblings.

During the Industrial Revolution, many mothers worked long hours in factories, leaving their young children in the care of hired ‘nurse-girls’, who were little more than children themselves, between 8-12yrs of age [16].

Many children ended up living on the streets, driven to stealing and pilfering in order to survive. ‘In 1848 Lord Ashley referred to more than thirty thousand ‘naked, filthy, roaming lawless and deserted children, in and around the metropolis‘ [17].

6. CHILD LABOUR & HARD LABOUR

With the Industrial Revolution in full swing, and labour in short supply, children as young as three and four years old were put to work in sweatshops and factories. Many of the jobs involved long hours, working in dangerous conditions, such as around heavy machinery or working near furnaces [18].

Children were forced to do back-breaking work in the most appalling conditions: ‘Children began their life in the coal-mines at five, six or seven years of age. Girls and women worked like boys; they were less than half-clothed, and worked alongside men who were stark naked. There were from twelve to fourteen working hours in the twenty-four, and these were often at night…A common form of labour consisted of drawing on hands and knees over the inequalities of a passageway not more than two feet, or twenty-eight inches high a car or tub filled with three or four hundred weight of coal, attached by a chain, and hooked to a leather band around the waist’ [19].

Children were sometimes crushed or ground to death, or had limbs severed, in some of the more dangerous industries, such as underground mining [20]

Basically, millions of children had no childhood, but a monotonous, depressing existence.

‘Children had not a moment free, save to snatch a hasty meal, or sleep as best they could. From earliest youth they worked to a point of extreme exhaustion, without open air exercise, or any enjoyment whatever, but grew up, if they survived at all, weak, bloodless, miserable, and in many cases deformed cripples, and victims of almost every disease’ [18].

And to make matters worse, many children were constantly exposed to poisons, such as arsenic, lead and mercury, which were being widely used in industries, such as silk and cotton spinning [21].

Adulthood didn’t bring much change – hard labour, often for 12-16 hours per day. The terrible conditions and over-work, along with poor diet, aged people quickly: “…from the 1830’s photographs show working people looking old by their thirties and forties, as poor nutrition, illness, bad living conditions and gross overwork took their toll’ [22].

7. POLLUTED AIR

Factories spewed soot and waste into the air, unchecked and unregulated. Cities were covered in a layer of grease and grime [23].

It’s no surprise that lung and chest complaints were rife. And then there was the ever-present stench of open sewage, rubbish, animal dung etc.

Refuse, including the rotting corpses of dogs and horses, littered city streets. In 1858, the stench from sewage and other rot was so putrid that the British House of Commons was forced to suspend its sessions’ [23].

That episode became known as ‘The Great Stink’, and in 1952, atmospheric conditions coupled with coal-fire burning, led to the event now known as ‘The Great Smog” – which killed thousands within the space of weeks [24].

Even today, an estimated 9000 people die prematurely each year in London alone, due to air pollution [25]. Yet the levels of pollution in Victorian times were up to 50x worse than they are today [26] – how many lives must have been cut short because of the foul air poisoning their lungs?

8. LACK OF BREASTFEEDING

Infant formula was first patented and marketed in 1865, consisting of cow’s milk, wheat and malt flour, and potassium bicarbonate – and regarded as ‘perfect infant food’ [27].

Over the next 100 years, breastfeeding rates dropped to just 25% [28], as social attitudes disdained the practice as being only for the uneducated, and those who could not afford infant formula [29].

Not only did millions of babies miss out on the nurturing of their mother’s breast, but their formula was poor quality, and often made with contaminated water in unsterile bottles, and milk quickly spoiled during warm weather without refrigeration.

It’s hardly a wonder that so many babies succumbed to diarrheal infections, such as typhoid fever.

9. IMPROPER GARBAGE DISPOSAL

Without a proper disposal system in place, alleys, courtyards, and streets became littered with rubbish and waste – sometimes knee-high, which was not only offensive-smelling, but a great attraction for all kinds of scavengers – rats, pigs, dogs, cockroaches and swarms of flies [30].

10. ANIMALS

Because horses and donkeys were used to transport goods, they also had to be housed in overcrowded cities, often in close quarters to humans, since space was at a premium. Rotting carcases were left to decompose where they lay.

By late 19th century, 300,000 horses were being used in London, creating 1000 tonnes of dung per day [31].

Pigs roamed freely in the streets, ferreting amongst the rubbish – some towns recorded more resident pigs than people.

Animal slaughterhouses were located amongst high-density tenement housing – animals were constantly slaughtered in full view of the surrounding residents, and the sounds and smell of death were constantly in the air [32].

11. LACK OF SUNLIGHT

Due to the burning of coal, and wood fires, cities were blanketed in a thick, black smog that covered everything in grime.

The murk was so dense that countless accidents occurred, including horses and carts running into shop-fronts, or over pedestrians, or into each other [33].

Vitamin D deficiency was widespread, and in the late 1800’s, studies concluded that up to 90% of children were suffering from rickets [34]. In young girls, this often led to deformed hips, and later on, problems in childbirth.

12. MALNUTRITION

Millions of families subsisted on the cheapest food possible, and many lived on the brink of starvation. Malnutrition was rife, with so little fresh fruits and vegetables in the diet.

Scurvy (Vitamin C deficiency) claimed an estimated 10,000 men during the California Gold Rush in the mid-1800’s [35]. Even in those who did not have overt signs of scurvy, a state of mild deficiency must have been prevalent, leading to weakened immunity to disease and infection.

13. BAD MEDICINE

If you thought blood-letting and leeches were bad, how about an injection of arsenic – proudly brought to you by Merck and Co [36]? Or a gargle with mercury – where’s the harm [37]?

And if you have smallpox, we’ll dab your sores with corrosives [38].

Treatment for syphilis included mercury rubs, bismuth injections, and arsenic injections – some patients endured more than 100 such injections [36].

It’s highly possible that the medical ‘treatments’ killed more people than the diseases they were intended to treat.

Hospitals were known to be breeding-grounds of disease, and over-run by rats, that were so numerous and hungry, they ate patients [39].

14. LACK OF BASIC CLEANLINESS

With less than 2% of the urban population with running water to their homes [40], and soap/detergents viewed as luxuries, washing of hands, clothes, plates and utensils had to be done with dirty, contaminated water – or not at all.

Note that items such as nappies and sanitary ‘rags’ also had to be washed – no ‘disposables’ in those days!

15. MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL STRESS

We now know that stress and fear take a huge toll on the body, resulting in immune system malfunction [41]. Can you imagine the mental anguish of being surrounded by abject poverty, and seeing no way of escape for yourself or your children? Or the panic of watching everybody you love succumb to a dreaded disease, and not having the knowledge or means to protect yourself?

Fear and hysteria ran high during disease outbreaks – during a cholera epidemic in the US in 1849 “thousands fled panic-stricken before the scourge…The streets were empty, except for the doctors rushing from victim to victim, and the coffin makers and undertakers following closely on their heels” [42].

Not to mention the stress of toiling for long hours in monotonous or dangerous work, with hardly a piece of dry bread to fill your hungry stomach?

Given the poor living conditions that millions suffered, it was hardly a wonder that average life expectancy was, tragically, just 15 or 16 years among the working class [43].

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[3] Publications of the American Statistical Association, Volume 9, Nos 65-72, 1904-1905, pp 260-261.

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[13] Report of the Council of Hygiene and Public Health of the Citizen’s Association of New York, 1865, p 59.

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[37] Swediaur F, Practical observations on the more obstinate and inveterate venereal complaints, J Johnson and C Elliott, London, 1784.

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[39] Vincent’s Semi-Annual United States Register, 1860, p346.

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[42] Cole AC, The Irrepressible Conflict 1850-1865: A History of American Life, Volume VII, Macmillan, New York, 1934, p 81.

[43] Greene VW, Personal Hygiene and Life Expectancy Improvements Since 1850: Historic and Epidemiologic Associations, American Journal of Infection Control, August 2001, p 205.