Koppeinokulasjon innebærer at smittestoff
fra kopper risses inn i huden og fremkaller et vanligvis mildt tilfelle
av koppesykdom med påfølgende immunitet. Metoden var i bruk i Europa
på 1700-tallet, inntil den ble avløst av E. Jenners kukoppevaksine
i 1796. Inokulasjon dreide seg ikke om å helbrede, men om å hindre
sykdom, og reiste spørsmål av religiøs, etisk og medisinsk karakter.
Metoden fikk relativt liten utbredelse i Norge, men var kjent over
hele landet og kan ha blitt brukt som privat huskur. Publiserte
tekster viser god kjennskap til den internasjonale debatten om inokulasjon
i norsk offentlighet.
Smallpox inoculation in eighteenth-century
Norway
Smallpox inoculation was practised in most European countries during
the eighteenth century, its aim being not to cure, but to prevent,
disease: Grafting variolous matter into the arms of a healthy person
provoked a (normally) mild case of the disease, with subsequent
immunity. As the first effective prophylactic against an epidemic
disease, serious debate ensued: Could it be morally right to inflict
healthy people with the seeds of a potentially fatal disease? In
1796, inoculation was replaced by Jenners vaccination method using
harmless cowpox to produce immunity.
In Norway, no extensive inoculation programmes were initiated, but
the method appears to have been generally known. Medical texts and
pamphlets propagating the method prove that the arguments and disputes
from European debates on inoculation reached the country and were
well known. Available source material also indicates that it was
practised more widely than has so far been acknowledged. In the
article, it is argued that lay persons with no medical training
were well represented among the practitioners and that the new medical
technique became a house remedy.
The article presents Norwegian texts defending inoculation, beginning
with the earliest one published in Trondheim in 1762, and follows
actual practice from its beginnings in Trondheim to later cases
in southern and eastern parts of the country.
