Immune system with power

Bacteria and viruses attack us every day. But usually we don't notice anything because our immune system is able to fend off the attackers with accuracy. by Gerlinde Felix

When the smallpox epidemic was rampant in England in the 18th century, doctor Edward Jenner observed that maids who worked with cows were spared the disease. He wondered if the maids might have been exposed to cowpox before. Could an infection with the cowpox pathogen protect against a later smallpox disease that is dangerous for humans? Jenner dared an experiment. He cut the arm of an eight-year-old boy and dripped pus from a cowpox blister onto the wound. The boy got

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