Vaccination of the Ethnic Greeks (Rums) AgainstSmallpox in the Ottoman Empire: EmmanuelTimonis and Jacobus Pylarinos as Precursors ofEdward Jenner

Abstract

This historical review examined the onset of the vaccination method during the Ottoman Empire. Inoculation was performedin the regions of Thessaly, Macedonia, and Thrace using folk medicine as a measure against the spread of smallpox/variolainfection. Greek physicians Emmanuel Timonis (1669–1720) and Jacobus Pylarinos (1659–1718) as well as several otherOttoman scientists of the Greek or Turkish descent pioneered the use and dissemination of variolation and the developmentof vaccination before or concurrently with Edward Jenner (1749–1823). During the 19th century in the Adrianople (Edirne)region and much earlier in Constantinople (İstanbul), vaccination programs used to be implemented as evidenced by variouscertificates distributed at that time. Ottoman vaccination documents from the early 20th century and the letter of Lady MaryWortley Montagu (1689–1762), dated 1719, have been analyzed, which confirms the extensive use of the vaccinationmethod. Smallpox was the first disease to have been treated with vaccination method. The difference between the Greekand Ottoman physicians and Edward Jenner lies in the fact that while the Greek and Ottoman physicians removed fluid frompustules of an infected person to perform inoculation, Edward Jenner removed fluid from pustules of infected cows, which iswhy Edward Jenner’s method was coined vaccination (derived from the Latin word “vacca” meaning “cow”). Further, Turk ish physicians Mustafa Behçet Efendi (1774–1834) and Sanizade Mehmed Ataullah Efendi (1771–1826) recommended thevariolation method. It thus appears that the Ottomans provided care to all ethnicities of their Empire. Vaccines were initiallyused against smallpox, but the immunization program was eventually extended to other diseases.