Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1902-02-08
Value of vaccInatlon.

Dubuque Times: The Chicago de
partment of health has circulated "a
vaccination creed which Possesses
widespread public interest at the. pres
ent time. 1t read as follows:
We, the undermined, hereby publicly
profess our firm belief-based upon posi-
tive knowledge gained through years of
personal experience and study of small
pox and vaccination-
]. That true Observation-Disclosures until
IL no longer "takes'-always prevents
smallpox. Nothing else does.
z That true vaccination-that is, vacci-
nation properly done on a clean arm with
pure lymph and Kept perfectly clean and
unbroken observation-disclosures did and never
viii make a serious sore.
g. That such a Vaccination leaves a
characteristic scar, unlike that from any
other cause, which is recognizable dur
ing life and is the emily conclusive evidence
Oh a successful vaccination.
= mat no unteward results ever fol-
low SUCH vaccinations; on the other hand,
thousands of lives are annually sacrificed
through It's neglect-a neglect begotten OF
want or knowledge.
DR.. Reynolds of the Chicago depart
ment has also issued for popular dis
tfiIation a supplement to the creed
from which the following is extracted:
Not one OF the 346 cases of smallpox lis
covered In Chicago within the last three
years was found vaccinated as defined In
the vaccination creed.
OF the total number, BOG never had been
Vacclnated at all, though most of them
claimed that they had. Examination Of
me arms proved that these attempts at
scar and the patients finally admitted that
the vaccinations when performed did not
take" A failure is not a vaccinntion :
there1ore' these BOG cases had never been
OF the remaining 40 eases, 26 had old.
IIegular ana doubtful scars said to be
the result or vaccination; but these were
rot characteristic; they were more like
the scars from infected sores or wounds
IMAM from vaccine. Nine had fair old
scars or vaccinations made from 80 to 20
years previously. Only five had typical
characteristic scars; but these also were
the results OF vaccinations made many
Years DeIore and never repeated. . > I"
Ihese 546 persons are examples of thou
SANDS or others who honestly believe they
nave been V~acclnated. because they nave
had their arms scratched, something
Iuooed IN and a more or less painful sore
has resulted. There is no operation SO
simple and SO safe as vaccination when
properly performed and cared for. There
Is no question In which such serious re-
suits follow carelcssness and Ignorance
even unto death itself, either as n direct
result through poisoning OF the vaccina-
ton sore or from smallpox through failure
10 secure a successful protective VAGINA
lioh. The arm should be first
thoroughly washed witt soap and water
and the site Of the operation then wiped
Wlth alcohol. After the vaccine spot has
dried, pin Il clean soft handkerchief or
piece OF clean soft muslin 10 the shoulder
scam of the undershirt so az TO hang In
loose folds over the sore and prevent the
sleeve from rubbing it. This must be
changed Tor a clean one every day until
the sGab comes off and the surface ia
healed. The Nesicle and resulting scab
must not be broken or injured In any way
ana the arm and It's coverings must be
kept scfupulously clean from the time of
the vaccination until 1t is well. I.
Inc ruie is-repeat vaccination until the
susceptibility 10 vaccine Is exhausted.
When this Is done II is impossible TO con-
tract smallpox. This is the protection
given the employees Of the department OF
health who handle and nurse smallpox
patents and bury the dead from the dis
ease and In no instance, among the hun
uIeus SO employed, has any one of them
ever contracted smallpox,
American Medicine. to which we are
indebted for these extracts, also con-
talns a paragraph from the Boston
Medical and Surgical Journal. stating
that the failure to vaccinate success
fully in primary cases is due almost
invariably to faults in the production.
storage or distribution OF lymph and
that these are susceptible OF remedy.
The proof cited is the statement of the
medical officer of the local government
board Of England in his report for
1867 that while 1882 medical certin-
Gates of iasusCeptibility were granted
In different parts Of England and Wales
the board now has record Of 10.14S
consecutive primary vaccinations per-
formed by their own officers, among
which no single instance of insuscepti-
billy q been found"