The Warp and the Weft (The Worlds of Ryn Wilkie #1) by Laurence Dahners

Author:Laurence Dahners [Dahners, Laurence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventee

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Yes, Cearth still had smallpox, Keilly learned to her dismay, and Claire’s husband had indeed had it when he was young. Back before the plague ran roughshod over their world, there’d been something that sounded like a vaccine that supposedly worked. Now it was only used sporadically, usually when an epidemic was moving through an area. Worse, it didn’t work consistently. “Is it based on cowpox?” Keilly asked.

“On what?”

“On our world, the first vaccine discovered was for smallpox. A doctor in England, Jenner, noticed that people who worked with cows didn’t get smallpox and realized it was because they’d had cowpox. The smallpox and cowpox germs are similar enough that if you’re immune to one, you’re immune to the other.”

“Immune?” Claire asked, looking puzzled.

“‘Immunity refers to the way your body fights germs. A ‘vaccine’ is a way to stimulate immunity to a disease without having to get sick with the disease itself. For a lot of diseases, once your body’s learned to fight that type of germ, it can kill them before they make you sick.” She shrugged, “We have vaccines against a lot of diseases, all aimed at keeping people from getting sick in the first place.”

“And …” Claire said, tilting her head curiously, “is this another pill you take, like the ones in the bag you brought me?”

“Um, sometimes you take them by mouth,” Keilly said. “In the case of the smallpox vaccine, they’d just scratch your skin with cowpox germs.” She shrugged, “Most vaccinations are given by injection.”

“Injection!” Claire said with alarm.

“Uh-huh. Do you know what an injection is?”

“Yes, being stuck with a hollow needle!” Claire shook her head, “I don’t want one of those. They hurt!”

“You wouldn’t have an injection, even if it’d save your life?”

Claire looked uncertain for a moment, then admitted, “Yes. I guess I would. If you’re trying to tell me that you could vaccinate me to cure my consumption. Well, yes, I’d take an injection just to keep from having to take all your poisonous medicines.”

“No, sorry, there isn’t a vaccination for TB … at least not a good one.” Keilly tried to get the conversation back on track. “Do you have cows on your farm?”

“My husband owns six dairy cows.”

It bothered Keilly that Claire thought of everything as her husband’s property rather than something they shared. Keilly opened her mouth but then decided now wasn’t the time to start a women’s liberation movement. “Do you know if the cows have any scabs or sores on their teats?”

“No! Why would you want to know that?!”

“I’m wondering if they have cowpox,” Keilly said patiently. “Ryn and I could vaccinate ourselves against smallpox with some of the fluid from such sores.”

Ryn said, “Wait a minute. Before we start scratching ourselves with the pus from cow sores, let’s ask Claire if smallpox is going around.”

Claire didn’t think so. “When smallpox has been in our area in the past, people have been in a panic and done their best to stay at home. I’m pretty sure I would’ve heard about it if it was going around.

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