Evening star., 1932-03-29
IMPROVED SERUM
DISCOVERED HERE
National Health Institute De.
veIops New "Toxoid"
for Scarlet Fever.
BY THOMAS II. HENRY.

A scarlet fever "toxoid," apparently
more potent than anything hitherto used
In producing immunity to this prevalent
and often fatal disease of children, has
been developed at the National Instl-
| tute of Health here.
Results obtained up to the present
with this new substance have been much
more favorable than have resulted from
| the scarlet fever antitoXin treatment
now employed by physicians. 1t pro-
duces relatively mild reaction in the
patient. The treatment is now under
going thorough clinical test, but the
results have been so encouraging that
Public Health Service physicians are
using it on their own children.
Due to Streptococcus.
1t is generally believed that scarlet
fever is due to specific form of the
micro-organism, streptococcus. This
produces a virulent poison In the blood
stream which is responsible for the
high temperature, the rash and the
other characteristics of the disease.
The blood tries to combat this poison
by manufacturing a counter poison
which attacks specifically the poison
produced by the micro-organisms
This protective substance is known as
al dIlJILOhLi. Lie ulCCildL1loI1l 10 hOiy
similar to that found in diphtheria. If
this antitoxin can be gotten into the
blood before the streptococcus obtains
a foothold the latter will not have a
chance to produce an effective poison.
The practice has been to inject some
of the toxin produced by the micro
organism into a horse. Then the anti
toxin is formed in the animals blood.
From this blood a serum can be manu-
factured containing the antitoxic sub
stance This can be injected into the
human being and, theoretically at
least, scarlet fever immunity conferred.
In diphtheria the method works almost
to perfection. In scarlet fever, while
highly beneficial results have been
demonstrated, there also have been
unusual effects which have discour-
aged many physicians and the anti
toxin treatment is seldom given unless
there happens to be scarlet fever cpl
denlic in neighborhood.
The new method was hit upon by
the Public Health Service physicians in
the court of an intensive study OF the
prevention of the disease. They found
that the toxin itself could be treated
with fcrmalin and kept in a warm
chamber for two months, at the end
of which time it had lost its toxic quail
ity. but still retained its ability to pro-
duce the inmunizing agent in the
blood. Possibility of extending the
''toxoid' method to other diseases has
been discussed.
Method Is Developed.
In connection with this work, it is
announced, a method has been devel-
oped for production of a concentrated
and purified scarlet fever toxin, chiefly
used for testing antitoxin.
One advantage of the new "toxoid,"
it was pointed out at the Public Health
Service, is that it doesn't produce
serum sickness" in the treated child
nor sensitize the patient to horse serum.
Thus, it has been found, one first
given the toxin-antitoxin for diphtheria
is likely to show bad reaction when
later given scarlet fever antitoxin.
The experimental work which led to
the production of the toxoid was car
ried on by Surgeon M. v. Veldee Of the
Public Health Service staff.