Evening star., 1932-10-27
GERMS FROM ONE
MAN USED TO SAVE
MILLIONS OF LIVES
Typhoid Bacteria Taken From
Dead Soldier 30 Years Ago
Still Being Used.
NEW TYPES BELIEVED
TO BE. FAR MORE VIRILE
American Public Health Associa-
ton Hears of Fights Against
Disease.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

OlSCdSc.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
Practically every drop of the typhoid
vaccine with which thousands oi
Americans are immunized every year
and with which millions of American
and British soldiers were inoculateo
during the World War was directly
descended from some bacteria obtained
from the spleen of a dead British
soldier during the Boer War.
This was revealed to the American
Public Health Association today by DR.
Francis B. Grinnell of Harvard Uni
versity, with the warning that this OLD
strain NAV have lost some of its effec-
tiveness during the 80 years since il
first was started on its tremendous jot
of DESTROYING cne Of the worlds most
dreaded diseases.
Germs Widely Employed.
This strain of bacterium typhosum
is almost universally employed fol-
making vaccine in this country as well
as England" DR.. Grinnell said. The
culture was isolated by Sir Almon
Wright in 1903 from the spleen of a
soldier who died Of typhoid during the
South African War and was originally
selected for making vaccine not be-
cause there was any evidence that il
was antigenlcallv superior to other
typhoid strains. but because it formed
a uniform suspension in salt solution
and because 1t sgglutinated well. A
sub-culture was brought to this country
in 1908 and this strain is still distrib-
uted for vaccine production by the
National Institute CT Health in Wash
ingICn."
There is no doubt. DR.. Grinnell said
that this strain remains typhoid bac'
cillus, but this does not mean that 81
years of life on artificial media has no
materially altered its antigenic conSti-
tuition" He described experiments with
IL subcultures of the Rawlins strain OBJ
tanned from IL laboratories who received
their original supply from the Govern
ment.
Found Greatly Inferior.
Tests on animals showed it was great
ly inferior to vaccine from fresh strain!
in increasing the bacteria killing power
of the blood. Dr. Grinnell found that
while the average number of organism:
killed by the blood of PERSONS receiving
the fresh vaccine increase $50 time!
after vaccination, the RaWlinS VACCINE
had practically no effect in this respect
While he concluded that the Rawin.
vaccine still gives protection. he urgee
that 1T would seem only reasonable Il
substitute virulent, smooth cultures 10
the old strain if We are to get maximum
protection.
There are 80 kinds of pneumonia
DR.. Albert R. Sabin of Yale Universit,
told the association this morning. Tha
is. 80 types of the pneumococci. th'
bacteria responsible for this olSea sc
can be differentiated in the laboratory
Until few years aga only two kinds
bronchial and lobar pneumonia, wer
recognized by physicians. Then sub
! types began to be recognized, baset
on the differentiating reactions of tn
| pneumococci.
Must Be Used Quickly.
| Up to the present DR. Sa5in toll
/ the physicians. a specific antiSerum ma
proved effective against only one @
/ these types of pneumocccci, the so
called type l." Another proves effec
/ tive against type 2, if administere,
during the first three DAYS of the in
fection
A new road to longer life has beel
opened through the stomach by rectn
discoveries. it was stated by DR.. Henr
! c. Sherman of Columbia University
He SAID:
! 1T has been found that. starting
with an adequate diet and a norma
! condition of nutrition and health. it !
possible to advance the average of tn
existing status of health and longevit,
by enriching the ordinary daily diet il
certain of its chemical factors. Thi
comes about. not through a reduction
in early death rates. but through ma
terial improvement of the life expecta
tion of the adult"
DR.. Sherman explained, however
that these new discoveries, largely il
the field of new functions of the so
called vitamins, apply more to tn
human race as whole than to in
dividuals.
Disease Carriers Healthy.
There are healthy carriers" O
whooping cough, just as of diptheria
according to the report of an inveStiga
tion by DR.. Travis p. Burroughs an
Edmund K. Kline of New York In
recent epidemic at Olean. N. Y. the
found five persons with the whoopin
cough organism. who were not i'll o
the disease One, however, had
chronic cough and another was suf
fering from catarrh. None of ther
was convalescing from whooping cough
Whether these carriers actually trans
mitted the disease to others could nc
be determined. The children with whor
they came in contact. and who after
ward developed whooping cough, wer
found also to have had contact wit
actual victims of the disease.
Criticism of some part of the re
port of the White House Conferenc
on Child Health and Protection wa
contained in a report made public las
night by a committee of the associa
tion. This dealt with supervision c
school health work by local boards G
education.
I'VE believe" states this repor
that the training of the public to ex
pect medical treatment on the sam
basis as public education has >seriou
implications which should not be de
cided merely by boards of educatio
accepting this responsibility. We ques
ton the qualifications of most sue
organizations to administer such sery
ices"
Indianapolis was chosen as the ne,
meeting place at a meeting of tt
Executive Council of the association We.
terday. The following officers wei
elected: President, DR.. John A. Ferrel
Rockefeller Foundation, New Yorl
president-elect, DR.. Haven Emerso
Columbia University; vice president
DR.. Arthur Mccormick, health commi.
sioner of Kentucky; Dr. John Sun;
wall. University of Michigan; DR.. v
p Shepard, San Francisco; treasure
DR., Thomas Paran, health commission,
of New York.
Awards were made in a health cor
servation contest conducted by I'll
United States Chamber of Commert
in cooperation with the association
The awards were given to cities divide
into population groups for the be
standing in health measures. IT
awards were: Group /, Milwaukee
group 2. Rochester; group 3. Ne