Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-11-27
"A RADICAL MEASURE.
[Keokuk Gate ethyl

Sioux City. by virtue Of the action OF
sits municipal council, has taken an adj
Yanced position in the matter OF pre-
venting the spread Of diphtheria, which
lis more or lesa prevalent there. AT the
suggestion Of DR.. "A. c. Phillips, city
health officer, the council has approved
"a measure which makes imperative the
5inoculation with anti-toxin of all mem-
bers Of families In which there is a
case of the disease. This measure ls in
line with the most advanced theories re-
Egarding treatment of diphtheria
and is muS Il more "a dical than any oth-
er city in the West and 1t is believed in
the country, has}yet adopted. 1t Is not
surprising. therefore, to learn that 1t Is
meeting with the opposition of many
persona, including members OF the medi-
cal profession there. "A dispatch from
Sioux City says in reference to the vary
ing opinions OF the latter:
1T is said that the incubation with
anti-toxin produces such different re-
suits in different individuals that 1t Is
Impossible to foresee the consequences
and the consequences often are serious,
Some physicians who are opposed 70 the
measure assert that exposure to dlph-
iberia in its early stages rarely causes
contagion, but that the use Of the serum
much more frequently produces i'll ef-
fects and in many cases light forms OF
the disease Itself. The safeguard which
is put about the enforcement Of the
measure is the Judgment OF the health
officer"
1t is extremely d doubtful IL anti-toxin
has yet established for itself place in
~
and discriminate use az a preventative
measure. Indeed 1t may be positively
asserted that II has not. The physiolog-
ical action of anti-toxin--that Is, its
action on the human organism in a
state of health-has not yet been worked
out with sufficient thoroughness and
care TO justify its seIin all. cases re-
gardless OF the different susceptibilities
of different persons and Of individual
idiosyncracies which 1t is never safe to
ignore More isknown concerning the
power OF the agent in counteracting the
specific diphtheretic poison after 1t has
once gained access to the sysem and is
present IN sufficient amount to manifest
the characteristic symptoms OF the dis
ease, but even in such cares medical
knowledge is not as general, definite and
complete as could be desired. Evidence
of this fact is to be found in the fatali-
ties that now and then follow its use
when administered as q curative agent.
Not all persons exposed to diphtheria
contract the disease. Adults are not ex-
empt. but they are much less suscepti-
Bile than children. To compel all the
members OF a family in which q case OF
diphtheria occurs to submit to injections
of an agent whose action IL not thor
oughly understood and therefore more
or less uncertain and not wholly unat-
tended with danger, is certainly going
too far. The Gate City is earnestly in
favor OF every legitimate means for pre-
venting the spread OF infectious diseases
of all kinds, but 1t recognizes that means
to be legitimate must be We'll under
stood, free from unnecessary danger and
fully sanctioned by the beet medical au-
thoritieS