The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-11-04
POI CHILDREN KILLED IN 1913
 BY OIPHTHERIA
Disease Now Twice As Preva-
 lent AS 1t Was Last Year.
CAN DETERMINE
 CHELDS IMMUNITY
Protective Treatment Can Ward Off Fatal Terrni-
 nation.
(By T. Eben Reeks, MD, Director Bureau of Preventable Diseases)

Bureau of Preventable Diseasesl
 Diphtheria killed POI Connecticut children in 1918. The disease is now nearly twice as prevalent in this state as it was a year ago. Reports re- ceived from other states by the bu- reau of preventab1e diseases indicate that the conta.gion is increasing in widely scattered parts of the coun- try. Chicago alone reported AT diphtheria deaths for last month. The disease is particularly fatal in young children and is responsible for one- seventh of all the deaths of children three and four years old.
 It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that every child who dies of diphtheria is a victim of ignorance or carelessness. Science has pro- vided both a prophyIactic and a cure for the disease. Children can be vaccinated and protected against dipf- theria almost as effectively as they may be protected by vaccination against smallpox.
 All persons are not susceptible to the disease. A small proportion of all children are immune from the time of birth and the percentage of irn- unes increases with age Only 30 per cent. of those between one and two years old are naturally immune, but after that the proportion in creases until at the age of 20 inn munity extends to probably S5 per cent. That is why so few cases de- velop among adults.
 Not content with furnishing both a preventive and a cure for diphtheria. science has taken a further step by providing a means to determine " a71j T., to the disease. This method of de- termining immunity is known as the Schick test. It is very simple and consists of injecting g, few drops of prepared diphtheria toxin into the skin and then watching for the ap- pearance of a chara cteristic red spot where the injection was made If such a spot does not appear within two or three days it shows that the person cannot catch diphtheria There is no pain, soreness or sickness con- neced with the test
 For those in whom the characteris- ti redness appears, and who are therefore known to be liable to catch diphtheria, doctors. now advise a course of protective injections similar to those which have proven so effec- tive against typhoid fever This pro- tective treatment consists of three small injections of toxin-antitoxin, week apart. There is no soreness as there is in smallpox vaccination, and the injections are harmless.
 Even when diphtheria deveIops there is no reason for it's terminating fatally, provided antitoxin be admin istered soon enough and in a suffi- ciently large dose. But the disease develops so rapidly that a delay of F or 24 hours before making the injec- ton may prove fatal. In every case of severe sore throat which is sus- pected to be diphtheria, antitoxin should be administered without wait ing for the full development of symp- toms. No harm will be done even if the case proves not to be diphtheria 1ntravenous injections, which give a reaction in six hours, are strongly recommended in all advanced cases
 If these facts, concerning the pre- vention and cure of diphtheria could be made known to every parent, this bane of child life would soon be rele- gated to it's proper place among the obsolete diseases. There has been a disposition in generations past to look upon disease and untimely death as inevitabIe-as a burden imposed for some mysterious reason upon man. kind by an all-wise Providence. The advance of preventive medicine how ever, has shown that heaven helps those who help themselves, and men and women need not bend their necks in helpless submission to communica- ble diseases.
 The fight of health authorities to conquer diphtheria is now practically reduced to a fight against ignorance. The school teachers of the state may be depended upon to give health in struction to their pupils, but for the dissemination of this knowledge among parents and other adults, this department asks for the assistance of the newspapers, which penetrate all homes and are as the breath of life to all Americans.
 The weekly mortality report fol- lows:
 Diphtheria-Bridg g; Stam- ford (city) 5; Stratford 4; Westport 9
 NeasIes-Bridgapo ?; Stamford (city) 5; Stratford 1; Trumbuu 1.
 Scarlet F'ever-Bridgeport 1; Stam- ford (town) 1; Westport ).
 Munps- 1; Westport Is.
 Munnps epidemic in Westport- There are now nine cases of typhoid at East Haven. All in same neigh borhood and six in one family All