Final Research Paper-Ending the Semester

This semester feels like it has really tested my ability to find balance. This was my first full time semester at Phoenix College and it was a bit of a challenge between work and school. Calculus proved to be one of the more difficult classes I've taken and required a lot studying time and zoom meetings with other students. I’ve really enjoyed working on my research paper this semester. My writing skills feel a bit rusty and I often found myself getting stuck researching things that didn’t pertain to my research but overall I had a great experience. I wish everyone luck with their research paper!

Side Note: I think I received each of these medals this semester. Especially the caffeine.

Smallpox eradication and Variolation

 Hello All,

Its hard to believe I am almost finished writing my first research paper. I still have a few edits to make and some details to add but overall, I'm excited to finish it. 

This week I've been looking into the history of vaccine development and the timeframe it has taken to approve the usage of said vaccine. For instance, the smallpox vaccine was developed in the late 1940's and the disease was declared eradicated by the World Health Organization in the late 1970's (Smith, 2013). This is such an amazing accomplishment and a testament to the power of vaccines. Modern technology has given scientists the ability to quickly share genome sequences of viruses which has shortened the research time for vaccine development. 

Side note: I also discovered the initial way to inoculate individuals was through variolation, which was the process of introducing a mild version of a virus to a healthy individual. People would tie rags to an infected individual then tie the same rag to a healthy individual to give them a mild version of the virus. In some instances, scabs from a virus would be crushed up and inserted into the nose (as seen in the image). Fascinating stuff right??

Smith, K. (2013, May). Smallpox: Can we still learn from the journey to eradication? Retrieved December 04, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3734679/