Evening star., 1925-02-22

l. Today vaccinations also pro-
| tect against diphtheria, scar
let fever and typhoid. These are
crowning achievements of medical
| science.
| The trouble Is, people have become
wrongly educated into leaving the
control of these diseases 10 public
health protective measures. Public
health services have done great
work, but family heads are, In the
final analysis, the. legal. .custodians OF
family health with reference to these
diseases. They are the real health
custodians, because these vaccina-
tions are generally not compulsory.
and the decision to vaccinate or not
vaccinate Is up TO the head of the
| house.
| Dfphtheria and scarlet fever vacci-
| nations are so new and have been so
little talked abour that many father
| and mother have seen their children
| stricken down with one of these dis
eases. and either killed or seriously
injured for life, without ever having
heard that protective measures were
| available.
Nor has lack of information alone
been responsible for this needless
death and suffering. Viciously igno-
rant groups, bent on spreading misin-
formation, have done their part. They
have not only spread misinformation
about the protective value of the
treatment, but also about dangers
from vaccination.
Records indicate that vaccinations
CARED out by modern methods are
really less hazardous than single
trip across our streets to school.
brief consideration of four pro-
tectfve vaccinations should be of in
terest to every family head. We will
begin with typhoid
Typhoid Fever.
When the typhoid germ was dis
covered, and the character of its
deadly. activity made plain, the con-
troll problem began to look simple.
1t looked simple because il had been
proven that we must either eat or
drink the germ in order to get the
disease.
| So, gradually, we have come to
leave the protection of our food and
drink to the health office. We look to
the health office to see that no dis
eased food. milk or water gets into
the city. But how er good job the
health office does, there is ALWAYS
some lurking danger.
At times the disease assumes a
mildly epidemic form, no matter how
alert the health folks may be. Many
people carry the germ in their sys-
tens, and are liable, unwittingly, to
pass 1t along to their friends. From
time to time we travel and have to
eat and. drink things we can never
be sure about.
Periodic vaccination offers rela-
tivaly complete protection against
typhoid. A single protective course
OF treatment lasts three years. The
course calls for three dosages at in
tervals OF ten days. Each dose Is a
small injection OF vaccine under the
skin of the arm. The treatment is
practically painless and the dtscom-
fort is slight.
The protective value of typhoid
vaccination is today too we'll recog-
nized to make 1T necessary to present
the mass of overwhelming proof that
II does protect. Suffice 1T to say that
both the Army and Navy consider a
recruit liability rather than an
asset until he has had treatment
typhoid used to be the scourage OF
the Army camp. Today it is practf.
cally abolished.
With the family protected by this
vaccination they can go and come
during the Summer months and run
but little typhoid risk. Protection
from typhoid today is up to the fam.
| ny hedu quite as mucn 2S to the
health department
Diphtherfa Treatment,
1t is within the memory of mos,
bof us that the antitoxin treatment for
diphtheria was developed There are
two big further advances in diph.
iberia control. First, there is a sim.
pie procedure known as the Schtch
test by which 1t Is possible to de.
termine If a child is liable to have
diphtheria- The next advance is q
vaccine treatment to immunize an,
child found to be susceptible.
Diphtheria spread is, in large
measure, controlled by isolation @,
the patient during the actively sick
period. Isolating patients, however
never makes community safe, be.
cause some people carry the germs
around in their throats. The serum
treatment has vastly reduced the
horrible ravages from this pest, bu,
with the Schick test and the immuniz.
ing treatment II can be completely
abolished The family head shouId
see that all children have this gro.
lection.
Scarlet fever has long been a par
ticularly serious child disease. MOI
lonly does It frequently show . heavy