Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-03-08
DIPTHERIA'S CONQUEST
By H. Addington Bruce

r. Bella SHICK has been visiting the
, United States. The newspapers have
49, been giving much space to his doings
And rightly. For DR.. Shick, Viennese deviser
susceptibility is lcertain to hold a lasting
place as one of the really great among medi-
cal discoveries.
1t is not too much to say that, thanks to
him, that dire scOurge of childhood, diph-
iberia is in process of being conquered. Con-
sider if you please, single striking bit
of evidence a report issued by the New York
state department Of health almost coincident
with DR.. Shcks arrival.
This report has received nothing like the
| publicity it deserves. Written by DR.. Fred
eric1 W. Sears, it details certain astonishing
| results obtained through Shick testing in
! the city Of Auburn, N. Y.
! Prior to the testing, diphtheria had been
increasingly prevalent in Auburn, manu-
| featuring city with a population of $4,000.
In the fall of 1921 the situation became so
| serious that cultures were taken from the
Threats of all the 700 children of a school
in the section where diphtheria was most
rampant. These cultures showed that no
fewer than 314 of the 700 boys and girls
were carriers of diphtheria germs.
With such evidence to present to the pub
lie, it was not difficult to obtain approval for
a systematic effort to stamp out the disease.
In February, 1922, Shick testing of thou
sands of school children began.
The theory underlying the Shick test is
that it will unfalingly show whether the
person subjected to it is or is not susceptible
to diphtheria. When the reaction indicating
susceptibility is Obtained, the next step is
to administer small doses of diphtheria toxin
antitoxin means of securing immunity.
Altogether, in the spring campaign of
1922, more than half of the children of .Au-
burn were Shick tested, or $3.50 of total
school population of lilo. A positive reac-
ton-that is, a reaction denoting suscepti-
bilty-Was obtained in 1851 cases. Of these,
! 80 per cent received at least one immunizing
dose of toxin-antitoXin.
Now to let DR.. Sears himself relate the re-
suits:
From April 1 to June 9 there was but
one child Of school age reported as having
diphtheria in the city of Auburn, and that
was child for whom consent for testing and
immunization was not given. From May s
to June 8 no cases of diphtheria were re-
ported in the city. From June to the pres
ent time Qate in the same month"; two chill
dren of school age have been reported as
having diphtheria, one of whom was not
Shick tested or immunized and who died
from the effect of the disease
I'm the second case it is quite evident that
sufficient time from the date of immunizing
had not elapsed to completely protect the
child, but sufficient antitoxin had accumu-
lated in the blood to protect her from the
serious effects of the disease"
Nor, it appears, is it necessary to immu-
nize an entire population in order to hold the
ravages Of diphtheria in check. In Health
News, official publication of the New York
state department of health, we find this ed-
torial comment on the Auburn campaign:
For all practical purposes a disease like
&iphtheria can be controlled in a community
n without securing 100 per cent immu-
...~E, but already it is more than probable that
, the Ga per cent of nOn-immunes in the school
population has been cut in half. When the
work is done the chances are that diphtheria
will be eliminated a serious proposition in
the enlightened city of Auburn"
Surely there is a valuable lesson here for
other communities. And surely it is not
surprising that DR.. Shick has everywhere
| been received with acclaim.
Copyright, 1929