@cstross the story of Lady Mary is well told in this episode of #Empire podcast.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/empire/id1639561921?i=1000599456439

Well worth a listen.

#smallpox #vaccination #variolation #Constantinople #Istanbul #Ottoman

Did you know? The first attempts at immunization against #smallpox were carried out in 15th century China and consisted of blowing dried smallpox scabs (!) up people's noses.
This technique, called #variolation, was very efficient: most patients got a mild form of the disease and, upon recovery, would be immunized for life.
But it was not without risks: around 1-2% of them died, and there was the real risk of the mild form of the disease spreading and starting an epidemic.

@ljwrites I've learned of #variolation through this #ExtraHistory video: History of Vaccines - Killing Smallpox - Extra History, but it focused more on Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's efforts to promote it in England. It glosses over the origins by stating only:

"who witnessed the procedure in the Ottoman Empire, where her husband was serving as the British ambassador while Europeans had heard of the practice, Lady Mary became an advocate for bringing the procedure to England"

TL;DR #WearAMask😷 could be a form of #variolation. By reducing the amount of virus you possibly breathe in (viral inoculum), your immune system has better opportunities to fight it and enhance immunity. It’s a theory. Not a proven fact. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2026913