Evening star., 1940-10-08
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
Bv Thomas r. Henry.

~ IHOmdS n. AsHTy.
When typhus, most dreaded Of war
diseases, hits Eastern Europe-as it
probably will this winter or the next
1t will encounter fve Hungarian farm
villages which should be completely
immune to its ravages.
The National Institute of Health has
just received word from DR.. Jozsef
Tomcsik, chief Of the State Hygiene
Institute at Budapest, that his aides
have completed the vaccination of these
five guinea pig" communities with vac
cine sent this spring from the United
States and which, In test tube expert
ments, affords complete protection
against the louse-borne typhus virus.
Each village Dr. Tomcsik reported,
Is divided in halves. One half the pop
ulation has received vaccine developed
in the Public Health Service laboratory
and which, under new technique, can
be made by the gallon at the Govern
ment's laboratory at Hamilton, Mont.
The other half has been vaccinated with
a vaccine made by different technique
by the late Dr. Hans Zinsser of the
Harvard Medical School. DR.. zinsser
was one of the worlds foremost authori-
ties on typhus and was present in the
great epidemic that swept over Serbia
at the close of the last war. The
Zinsser method is bit more compli-
Gated.
There is no final test Of typhus vaccine
except that afforded by an epidemic.
The stress OF war conditions in the
unsanitary rural areas OF Eastern Eu-
rope is almost certain to bring a lareup
Of the disease which killed at least
100000 persons in the years imme-
diately after the armistice. 1t is highly
probable, Public Health Service officials
believe that another experience Of this
sort can be forestalled in some measure
by the two American vaccines.
1t was hoped that at least 100000
persons in communities throughout
Eastern Europe could be vaccinated
this summer. but the turn Of the war
has made this impossible. Besides the
hve Hungarian villages, approximately
$4,000 persons have been given the vac
tAiC 2sdliidiI1d. fallOLllCl &c Slllp-
ment was sent, but no word has been
received as to what has become of it.
1t was planned, with the cooperation
Of Rumania government oficials, to
vaccinate approximately $4,000 peasants
in Bessarabia. The Russian seizure of
that province has made that plan i'm
possible, even If the vaccine should
arrive safely
The one thing essential to determine
the efficacy of the vaccine, according
to DR.. R. E. Dyer of the National In
stitute Of Health, is that the expert
ments be rigidly controlled and every
case reported with scientific accuracy.
If hasty, slip-shod methods are used the
results always would be open to debate.
The Hungarian villages were selected
because of the absolute confidence Of
National Institute of Health officials in
DR.. Tomcsik, an old friend They also
were personally acquainted with the
Rumanian health officials designated to
carry out the work in Bessarabia
1t is essential to choose a neutral
country as a field of operations Prob
ably the ideal place for the experiments,
some doctors say, would be German
concentration camps, especially in Po-
land. There are rumors that typhus
already has broken out in some of them
The German medical service, however,
contains some OF the worlds foremost
physicians and the methods of pro-
ducing both vaccines have been de-
scribed in minute detail in American
medical publications which are available
to them. They will be able to carry on
their own tests if they desire The
same is true for Russia, which suffered
worst in the last epidemic
The National Institute of Health vac
cine can be made in practically unlm-
tied quantities at short notice by the
newly developed hen's-egg technique,
which, in this and other fields. may save
many millions OF lives in the next few
years. An egg is incubated for about
five days. Then, by a delicate technique,
drop of typhus virus is inserted through
the shell into the yolk. The puncture
in the shell is sealed. The egg is allowed
to incubate about five days longer. Then
1t is broken and the virus, which has
increased enormously in the meantime,
taken out, killed, and the vaccine pre-
pared from it.
Either of the American vaccines is
entirely safe. There is a French vac
cine, made from the live virus, which
may be used experimentally in North
Africa, another typhus danger spot. Its
safety, American doctors believe, is de-
batable.
The possibility of any typhus outbreak
in America, it is stressed Is extremely
remote, because there are no louse-
ridden communities.