The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1904-08-05
NO. A..
Dipiheria Aaiitosin

I ue-s ~ diphlheria serum 10 lessen
the mortality OF the disease, and a
: consequenc are distrustiul OF other
modern medical methods. Those
D whose interest IN the matter j. sin
: cere should read the statistics given
, in the latest report Of the Commits
. si0ner Of Health Of Chicago, which
has ior i,- subject the comparative
: mortality ia diphiheria before and
= after the introduction Of the anti
, toxin treatment in the city Of Chica-
! 'go. b e statistics sre ell the
! more deserving OF confidence be-
! cause they do not come from doc
! tors at -andom, but are the denti-
! mite reports Of the regularly appOin-
ted administrators Of the health de-
: lpariment OF the city.
The first dose Of diphtheria anti
. toxin administered was on October
5ih. 1895. Since that time ,43j
! cases Of diphiheria, the diagnosis
I oi the disease having been verified
4 by special meteorological examina-
! tion in every case, have been thus
+. treated. OF these 40 died, a NOR
taliiy rate Of not quite 6 : per cent.
According to the records OF the De-
! elpsrtment OF Health Of the CITY the
leverage mortality without antitOxin
! is still what il was before the intro
: iducLiOn OF antitoxin-that i, about
50 percent. some idea OF the saw
\ Ing OF life that has been thus effect
! ed can be gathered from other data
= furnished in the report. before the
. administration OF ariitOxin there
: were over T. deaths every year
from diphiheria for every 10000 OF
I. population; since antitoxin has
4 been introduced there have been
: less than ) deaths for 10000 OF
r population. When antitOxln was
= introduced Chicago had a pOpula-
ton OF 100000 approximately; at
4 the present time the population
= amounts to 1862 600. During
= these years Of the use Of antitOxin
!. the population has increased by %
r per cent, and at the same time the
!. actual decrease Of deaths from diph-
!, liberia has been over 63 per cent.
n, The most interesting lesson OF the
4 Chicago report, however, is con-
y |tained in the statistics with regard
! Ito the higher mortality when anti
= toxin Is not administered early in
: the cases. OF the total. nearly -
y 800, cases that were treated by the
y Department OF Health physicians,
!. about 600 were treated on the first
I day OF the disease and only two
u deaths occurred among these cases,
! the mortality rate being scarcely
!. more than Of per cent. Nearly
y sl2 600 cases were treated on the Sec
,eIcnd day. and OF these > died, 3
\, mortality rate OF about l per cent.
lover :, 500 were treated on the third
N day and 5 died, a mortality rate
Il l0i nearly 3 per cent. About l.
n l4cl cases were treated on the fouIih
oslday: l4S Of them died. a mortality
!; rate OF nearly IL per cent. Nearly
,sll 900 cases were not treated until
,uIihe fourth day, and Of these 2l6
u died. over % per cent. The impor-
tance, then, Of having antitoxin ad-
minisiered a. early a. possible IN the
cases is emphasized by this report,
and the necessity OF allowing the
physician free hand in the mat
~ ter, 90 that he may prevent the raw
ages Of the disease by counteraCting
ns the toxins formed in the system,
CONSTITUTES an almost infallIbls
i, means for securing the recovery Of
Il the patient after only a slight ILL
10 mess.
Unfortunately, those who are still
opposed 50 the diphtheria antitoxin
to have 20 affected the minds OF those
with whom they are in contact that
there is often some hesitation in al
Is lowing the physician TO employ an
titoxin al the early stage OF the dis
ay ease. when i in most effective, but
when there are often very few, il
any. symptoms Of an alarming na-
} iure present There can no longer
a be any doubt aOou; the absolute in
on Nervousness Of diphtheris antitoxin
itself. Ii has now been given in
y, millions Of cases. and while some
az deaths have been reported, il is now
well recognized that they sre due to
some complication OF accident and
never to the antiioxin itself, and in
~ recent years, the the number Of in
jections has grown enormously, such
a- reports have practically ceased.
s. This great humanitarian remedy,
then, must be allowed TO exert it,
le full therapeutic action So early as
possible in The cases N. Y Inde-
peudent.