Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1881-03-05
VACCINATION AND REvAOOINATION
From. the Scientific American,

VACCINATION AND REvAOOINATION,
From the Scientific American
ihe elmmunity from epidemic small
poX enjoyed by civilized commuu,.
ties, thanks 10 general vaccination !.
TO De preserved only by constant
vigilance. With the Hood of immi.
grafton pouring in upon us, largely
rom countries in which vacclua ation
IS not general among The poorer class.
es, our American towns aud cities.
need 10 be particularly vigilsnt.
IL Is but II little while since An at.
Tempt was made to conceal the pre.
valence OF smallpox among . shin
load OF Italian emigrants on their
arrival at this port; and our city
barely escaped, having the contaRion
thus dispersed in many quarters. and
amonga class Indifferent to sanitarv
precautions. The, frequent occnr.
renee of the disease aiuOpr the sams
people and. others of "a ike socisl
grade, at this season, is proof enough
that the efforts Of the sanitary police
TO quarantine Infected lncomers ara
not always successful.
with our rapid railway commun,.
Gallon IT is easily possible for fect.
cu partles to travel long distance hs.
tween the time Of their EXPOSURE and
the breaking out OF the malsdv
enough to betray its presence, In tLie
way nelghbOrlng city was lately I'm.
iected by, party of Canadian mara.
tives, who brought the seeds Of the
ulsease with them. In like manner
the epidemic now raging in southern
DakOta appears, to, have been import.
ed ny newly arrived emirranis. ANA
widely distributed among che French
Canadian settlements by public nm.
erals and other practices c0rnmnn n
people ignorant Of or iudi6eram. "a
the proper treatment of eonaaolona
diseases.
!. "A striking illustration er th;a
wanton disregard of personal and
pubic safety among -peopla A. fh;e
sort IS gwen in the recent ralSort al
the New York State Board OF Harm.
ror some months smallpox has been
very prevslent in aud about Troy.
particularly among the factory pes.
p,e OIL the adjacent towns. Eighty
persons OF this class attended an
evening party masked On sunmssk.
ing for supper il was discovered that
one OF the dancers had varioloid erup.
ieh upon ner lace. The eparty was
not TO De broken up by aug little
mug IKE that, however, aud the
aancing continued until morning.
Within fortnight twenty-five OF the
e'ghty were down with the dieease.
a"u eleven others had c6ntracted
small pox from them, oulyiiope case
occurring outside the tweuty.two
families first exposed. Cohpulsory
vaccihatlcn aud. other sanitary pre.
cautions were promptly entorced and
the epidemic was stamped cut.
similar cases of criminal jndilYar.
ehce to the spread OF, coutaoion.
though Involving perhaps Z smalier
NUMBER at atime, have comer to tho
knowledge OF our CITY board a.
health. and the result 10. AZ manv ss
SIXTY cases of smallpox are now NM
aef treatment at Riverside Hosri.al.
olS,y out Ut twelve hundred thou.
sahd is by no means au alarming M m.
per still 1t is large enough 10 war.
rant especial care on the part of the
community to guard against con.
tagion.
Smallpox is relatively 40 rare
among native born Americana. And
anything like epidemic osmsli.pox Il
50 lnfrequent, that people mot onlv
neglect to have their children vacni.
mated early, but still more, to have
vaccination repeated when il has once |
oeen apparently well done. Not 4
lew people have also been kent from /,
lasns their children yHccinsted by !.
ports of anti vaccin ationisfs. ~ A v.st
auount OF mischief has beeaf aoue in i
lnls way Dy people who think they
lave 'he sood OF the community 1t
aear1. ASainst their extrAvs&ant and
H'sil paseiess assertions our i boards
81 health set overwhelming evidence
mat the frequency and viruience Of
'',,'al-poA nave been greatly mitigat.
~ oy vaccination wherever ii has been
'ysiemat1caily practiced. The re- :
'ofds OF Riverside 1Hospttai.: WHARF J
ne smallpox patients of 1this citv
ire sent, chow that the mortality
'hohg the unvscciilateda Ifs from two
thfse Times, ~ great as amDug those (
no ciaihi to have been vsccinated
i'a IL Is weif known that with q con-
l"efabie portion Of those who have
zen Vaccmated the work. has NOT
'eeh well done, or the protection hssl
some dimihished by lime.W
DurihS the epidemic. in uPhiladel.
una .en years ago less than asqusrter
I the deaths among those who had
cen vaccinated were. Of those Who
'i0wed s good typical scar. -.
Wnere ere-vaccfnation had baen oare.
'l'y practlced the immunity from
no disease seemed almost perfect.
ho III the few cases in which small.
?A was taken by such persons none
leo. The statistics on This head ara
istructive. The report, of the phv.
cian IN charge of the hospital for
aaii-pox patients (Dr. Guun) savs.
among 2,S77, Cases, OF smalI.nor
United during the epidemic. onIv
are said to have been re.vaccinat
!, OF hich four died. hut NV snh-
cting these cases to q careful snalv.
s. we find as follows: Seventeen
ere erere-vaccinated at a distant ner;od
~ 'mG ~ a. !ar back as thirty-oue years;
"au not oeen re-vaccinated uun
. exposure; seven were said tc
we oeeii successfully re-vaccinated
~ o, "ele unable to exhibit any cica.
icss ; as the result sixteen bore upor
eir arms very poor aud uncharac
lstic scars, some of which, indeed
ere scarcely visible; five preespted
II cicatrlces and only three case,
ere : aoie to show good cicatrices
the tour cases which died, two
CURED among those without cica
lcs, one among those re.vaccinate1
'ef exposure, and one amopg thos,
owing Door aud uncharaeteristi,
hrs. All the cases which bore upo,
eif arms unmistakable evidence o
ccessiul re-vacclnation sufferet
'm the mildest form possible of tb,
sease. Indeed, three Of these case
hiolteu an eruption of doubtfu
afacter, and have therefore beer
'ofded as cases of varioloid (?1
lie eruption on three others did no
vance ' beyond the papular stage
on seven it was barely vascular
ON the foregoing facts, we are ful
prepared to earnestly and cordial
recommend re.vaccinatiou A
'st necessary supplemental measurl
the primary vaccination.',s
evidence of this nature is abnn
1T: Aud the surest way to preyen
all-pox. epidemics, or the popula
rm which attends threatened epi
MICS, is 10 yaccinatc and re.vacci
e from time to time until no fur
+ taking" islpossible.