| Edward Jenner's Syringe | |
|---|---|
| |
|
Origin |
Edward Jenner |
|
Type |
Syringe |
|
Effects |
Inoculates host against viral or bacterial agents |
|
Downsides |
Low-level transmitter of disease |
|
Activation |
Injection |
|
Collected by |
Agent J. T. Hastings |
|
Section |
|
|
Aisle |
846294-6820 |
|
Shelf |
782613-5832-847 |
|
Date of Collection |
June 23, 1919 |
| [Source] | |
Origin[]
For ages, smallpox was a pestilence that ruined lives wherever it travelled. Everything changed when physician Edward Jenner stumbled upon a vaccine against the scourge. Jenner was familiar with the tattle of neighboring farm folk in his native Gloucestershire. Every milkmaid exposed to a mild case of cowpox never received a smallpox breakout. The clever cuckoo hatched an idea. Give a local boy a few small cuts and insert infected pus into the wound. Repeat weeks later with a strain of smallpox. The young lad survived the experiment, and Jenner quickly took note of his findings for the Royal Society.
Jenner was not immediately supported by the medical community, but later testing proved his theory right. Exposure to a weaker cousin of a fatal disease made one more resilient and likely to survive the stronger one. The science of immunology was born. Scientific expeditions testing the vaccine proved it was scalable, and even Napoleon himself regarded the Englishman with high respects. The collective vaccination efforts over time led to the eradication of the disease in 1979.
Effects[]
Makes the patient an inoculation host, increasing their exposure time and later resistance to infection. Works on any biologically transmitted sickness, from viruses to livestock-borne disease. To keep the body prepared for changes in the base illness, sicknesses stay with at lower intensity but longer timespans, allowing them to unintentionally infect others with the starting symptoms of their diseases. Meanwhile, their own nervous system will tone down their response to environmental cues to balance the continual homeostasis. Allergies and heat exposure don’t affect them heavily, but neither do pain receptors telling them of potential injuries.
Usage[]
The syringe proved useful in the 1918 Influenza outbreak, where the Warehouse took matters into their own hands to synthesize a viable cure. Contacted medical experts of the time within the Warehouse hierarchy noted the syringe increased the resistance of recipients to infection but weakened their own health, unable to sustain themselves.