The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-04-19
PROGRESS WITH
 VACCINES MADE
Most of Those Produced By Science in Past
 Failures Say Experts

I While most vaccines for the pre-
 vention of disease, with exception
 of those for smallpox, typhoid
 fever, diphtheria and rabies, have
 proved disappointing failures and have seen been discarded, never.
 theless progress is being made to-
 ward perfection of vaccines for
 other diseases and these may socn
 become available to alleviate hu-
 man suffering, according to an
 article by Dr Willard Knowlton,
 director of the Bureau of Prevent
 able Diseases of the State Depart
 ment of Health, which appears in
 the current issue of the depart
 ment's monthly bulletin.
 l To-day experiments are being
 made with at least three types o4s
 vaccine for whooping cough, one for scarlet fever, two for infantile
 paralysis, and with two modifying agents for measles, Dr Knowltcn
 said. Some of these preparations
 are on the market, but should
 only be administered by quali- fled physician, and his advice
 should be followed with reference | to their use.
 l Many mothers have asked why
 more emphasis is not placed uy
 medical authorities on use of the
 vaccine for whoopins cough, !Sr
 Knowlton stated. The reason Is
 that until the last year or two, the
 results with whooping cough vac-
 cine have been disappointing. At
 present the outlook for suitable
 vaccine appears to be more hope
 full, but there is much work yet to ] be done, since there are several theories as to the proper way jn which the vaccine should be manu- factured. Some investigators are
 reporting fairly good results. Con-
 servative, scientific men insist cS
 confirmation of the resul:s, checked and ble-chccked, be- fore placing too much confidence in any immunization method, hoT- ever.
 Scarlet fever is one of the most elusive and baffling of all common diseases. It carries two attacking | weapons, either of which 1t may use and both of which produce
 different results. A serum which
 might foil one of these weapons would be useless against the other one. A vaccine is available for fighting the more dangerous oe | the two side of the diseases, but at
 present five doses are required,
 fact which renders immunization
 more difficult. Parents who wish to have this treatment given to children, should consult the fam l lily physician and follow his ad- vice.
 Up to the outbreak of pliomye- | litis in 1881, much confidence had been placed in the convalescent ! serum for this disease. Use of the l serum at that time did not bring the expected results, however. Two groups of investigators, one in Philadelphia and one in New York, are working with a vaccine to pro. vent infantiIe paralysis at the pres- ent time, both using the spinal cords of infected monkeys in mak' ing the vaccine. Encouraging re- suits are reported, although the vaccine is not yet on the market. i There is no such thing as q
 measles vaccine" However, after 1 a child is exposed to measles, measures may be taken to prevent the disease or preferably to mod'- fy and so permit mild attack to confer immunity. Children who grow up without this immunity may suffer later in life, for measles becomes more serious in adults.
 The measles modifier can be given only by a physician.