My sense from what you write below and what you and others wrote earlier
is that there may have been an attempt to infect with blankets, but that
the actual ability to do it may not have been there; or it was a remote
possibility.
Paul
J. Douglas Deal wrote:
>Paul et al.:
>
>A CDC website I just consulted says the most common form of transmission
>is direct contact with respiratory droplets from the infected person; much
>rarer is airborne transmission of such droplets over greater distances;
>also documented is the possibility of transmission via clothing or bedding
>bearing dried respiratory or lesion secretions. One of the problems with
>sending or delivering infected blankets, as Harold Forsythe noted, is that
>there was no way to ensure that the bearers of these "gifts" would not be
>infected instead of the intended recipients.
>
>Douglas Deal
>Professor of History and Chair of History Department
>State University of New York at Oswego
>Oswego, NY 13126
>[log in to unmask]
>(315)-312-5632
>
>
>
>
>On Wed, 8 Mar 2006, Paul Finkelman wrote:
>
>
>
>>I have a question on this.
>>
>>Does anyone know the science here? Can the small pox virus "live" in a
>>blanket; or does it need a live host; can a blanket be "infected"?
>>
>>Paul FInkeloman
>>
>>Douglas Deal wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>Tom Apple wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>I'm pretty sure that that the use of infected blankets to spread smallpox has
>>>>proven to be a myth. The one instance of blankets given to the Indians that
>>>>alledgedly had been infected was at Fort Pitt during the French and Indian
>>>>War. Some blankets from the hopsital were give as gifts because those were
>>>>the only extra blankets available. The ability of a few blankets to even be
>>>>able to spread the pathogen has been questioned. The most likely cause of
>>>>spread of smallpox in that instance occured when the Indians scalped those
>>>>who had already died of smallpox putting them in direct contact with an
>>>>active pathogen from the blood.
>>>>
>>>>Other than that one alledged incident where the Indians were given blankets
>>>>and there were people infected with smallpox present, there have been no
>>>>other documented incidents that Indians were given infected blankets to
>>>>deliberately spread the disease.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>This is probably *not* a myth. See the refs to Jeffrey Amherst and other smallpox
>>>related episodes in the following H-West exchange from 1995:
>>>http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~west/threads/disc-smallpox.html
>>>
>>>Doug Deal
>>>History/SUNY Oswego
>>>
>>>To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
>>>at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>--
>>Paul Finkelman
>>Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law
>>University of Tulsa College of Law
>>3120 East 4th Place
>>Tulsa, OK 74105
>>
>>918-631-3706 (voice)
>>918-631-2194 (fax)
>>
>>[log in to unmask]
>>
>>
>>
>>To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
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>>
>>
>>
>
>To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
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>
--
Paul Finkelman
Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law
University of Tulsa College of Law
3120 East 4th Place
Tulsa, OK 74105
918-631-3706 (voice)
918-631-2194 (fax)
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