The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1909-07-02


~ there can be no reason
for contracting the NAL
ady unless one chooses People now
adays do not catch" smallpox If they
nave been properly vaccinated. In
case they neglect that customary pre-
caution, 1t is considered that they have
deliberately exposed themselves to the
risk Of contagion. The same PROPOSE
ton will In future apply to typhoid,
tnasmuch as means have been found
whereby, through incubation with a
suitable vaccine" anybody may be
rendered permanently immune Is
to say, incapable Of acquiring the dis
ease.
Typhoid in old time was known as
"putrid fever" 1t was one of the most
deadly of human maladies. largely be-
cause the proper methods to adopt in
dealing with 1t were not yet known.
But even to-day, whep 1t kills less than
10 per cent of the victims it assails,
1t is exceedingly destructive. It
caused 80 per cent of the total deaths
on the American side during the war
with Spain-the disease, which ragged
in the military camps, being distrib-
uted chiefly by flies. And it was re-
Gently estimated by Dr. George M. Ko-
Der of Washington, D. Ca recognized
authority on the subject-that, reck-
oning loss of wage-earning capacity,
expense for medical attendance, etc.,
typhoid fever in the United States
costs annually not less than $350,O0O,-
700. Accepting these figures, 1t appears
that the disease costs the people Of
the United States more than a billion
dollars every three years, writes Rene
Bach In Technical World Magazine.
The ImmunixinE Vaccine.
There Is just one advantage In hav-
ing typhoid. An attack of it renders
one immune to the complaint there
after-at all events practically SO, IN
asmuch as a recurrence of the malady
in a person who has once recovered
from it is uncommon. But 1t would
surely be very advantageous II such
going through the sickness ana n sal
fering, with incidental risk of dying.
Fortunately, this very thing has at
last been accomplished. That Is to say,
a means has been discovered whereby
anybody may be rendered immune to
typhoid-the result being obtained by
a simple process of vaccination. The
principle of vaccination for smallpox
is that of utilizing the germ of a near
Unrelated disease of the COW. much
milder in character, to produce I'M
munity against the more serious NAL
adv. This idea nowadays Is begin
ming to be applied, with much success,
to other maladies, notably rabies-by
Pasteur's discovery-and cholera and
bubonic plague, the two latter at the
Instance of Haffkine, an Englishman.
Vaccination for typhoid-frst worked
out by Sir A. E. Wright OF London
is based upon the same theory.
For some time past the United
States War Department has been Dus'-
engaged with the problem OF TYPHOID
vaccination, and at the Army Medical
Museum in Washington large quanti-
ties of the immunizing fluid have been
manufactured and put up In sealed
glass tubes, ready for use-each tube
conta lining the few drops requisite for
dose. For military purposes 1t ls OF
utmost Importance to find a means
whereby the "putrid fever" which has
always been the most deadly enemy
Of troops-commonly killing more men
than were slain by the enemy-shall
he robbed of its power to destroy.
How the Vaccine Is Prepared.
There is no reason, indeed. why SOL
djers In the field In future wars
should suffer any loss whatever by ty-
phoid. 1t will doubtless be required Of
every recruit, as a matter of course.
that before being finally accepted he
shall be immunized against the mala
dy. AS for the regular army. several
hundred men, volunteering for the
purpose, have already been inoculated;
and, the investigation having now
passed beyond the experimental stage.
every officer and enlisted man Will be
subjected to the treatment.
The vaccine" for typhoid Is pre-
pared by an extremely simple process.
A quantity of beef broth is made, and.
when it has had time to cool. few
typhoid baciln are put into 1t. Find
ing it an acceptable food, they multi
ply with great rapidity, until, after
few hours, the vessel of soup contains
countless billions of them. They are
then killed by putting the broth into a
sort of oven and heating 1t to point
in the neighborhood of boiling.
This Is the "vaccine"-a soup con-
tanning the dead bodies of billions OF
typhoid bacilli. It is now ready Tor
use. But first, to make perfectly sure
that all the bacilli are dead, small
quantity of the soup is put into fresh
batch of BROTH. previously sterilized
by heat. If, on microscopic examina-
fion coy,oa hours later M living bAC1ll1