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How did Lady Mary Wortley Montagu help introduce variolation in England?
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Lady Mary Wortley Montagu played a pivotal role in introducing variolation to England in 1721–22. Having previously suffered from a severe case of smallpox herself, she became familiar with the practice while living in the Ottoman Empire, where her husband served as the British ambassador.123
Observing the effectiveness of the procedure—which involved infecting healthy individuals with material from a mild case of the disease to induce immunity—she became a strong advocate for its use upon her return to England. Her efforts helped popularize the method, which served as a precursor to modern immunization before it was eventually replaced by Edward Jenner's safer cowpox vaccination method.13