cowpox

noun

cow·​pox ˈkau̇-ˌpäks 

: a mild eruptive disease of the cow that is caused by a poxvirus (species Cowpox virus of the genus Orthopoxvirus) and that when communicated to humans protects against smallpox

Examples of cowpox in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The immunization had been successful, supporting conventional wisdom that those who survived cowpox seemed to be immune to smallpox disease. —San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 May 2024

Vaccines were first discovered as an effective way to prevent viral infections 227 years ago when Edward Jenner, an English physician, used liquid from a cowpox lesion to create an injectable material that prevented the symptoms of smallpox, according to the study. —Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 7 Feb. 2024

Jenner was not really the first doctor to make this observation about cowpox. —Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 26 Aug. 2022

But researchers consider those cowpox cases illustrative of the ways infections can cross from the wild world into the human one: in a virus’s home range through close exposure and hunting or far from its original territory, thanks to accidental importation and the exotic-animal trade. —Wired, 5 Aug. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1798, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

cowpox

noun

cow·​pox ˈkau̇-ˌpäks 

: a mild disease of the cow that is caused by a virus and that when passed on to human beings produces a temporary rash and protects against smallpox

Medical Definition

cowpox

noun

cow·​pox ˈkau̇-ˌpäks 

: a mild eruptive disease of the cow that is caused by a poxvirus of the genus Orthopoxvirus (species Cowpox virus) and that when communicated to humans protects against smallpox

called also variola vaccinia