The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-08-28

only anu lHSH OIlly AhlNHSH
his column.
country by soldiers returning
from the South Pacific and Afri-
can areas. She had read all about
Kala-azar, and filiariasis and
tropical sore and madura foot and
she was worried to death about
them. She wondered if something
couldn't be done to prevent them.
! asked her how many Of her
children had been vaccinated
against smallpox, diphtheria, ty-
phoid fever, scarlet fever and
whooping cough. She replied that
none of them had because her hus-
band didn't believe in that sort of
thing - sticking germs or the
waste products of germs into chill
dren's bodies.
Necessity of Vaccinations
"Your husband is not at liberty
to hold such opinions" told her,
"any more than he is at liberty to
hold the opinion that murder is
a good thing because it reduces
the surplus population, or that
lynching is justified. The proof
of the value of such vaccinations
is beyond any smart-alecky opin-
ion: it has been laid down over
a period of years and is complete.
The diseases | have named are
far more dangerous and malig-
nant than the tropical diseases
you are afraid of. A century and
a half ago they killed their hun
dreds of thousands every year
right here in a climate like this,
whereas the tropical diseases can
never get start here because the
insects which carry them cannot
live here. You would do any fool
thing to yourself to render your
person safe from fiIiariasis and
madura foot because you have
just been scared about them. But
because the prosecution of vaccin-
alton has rendered this country
almost free Of such killing and
binding diseases as smallpox and
diphtheria, you do not hear about
the dangers of those diseases any
more and you have a false COM
placent sense of security"
Every year l consider it the
highest duty Of this column to adj
wise parents to have their children
vaccinated against the contagious
diseases for which we have proved
immunization preventatives. | am
told that such preachments are
unnecessary because in most
states such vaccination is enforc-
able by law. But | continue be-
cause enforcement is often lax,
and besides it is better to have
the consent of, the vaccinated, or
at least their parents.
1t is true that smallpox and
diphtheria have almost disap-
peared. Parents take this to mean
that the danger is over and allow
the preventive vaccinations 10
slide year afte= yea-. Aza .his
unvaccinated pool of the popula-
tion constitutes an ever-ready
source of epidemics. If a carrier
should infect one child in school,
ell the unvaccinated children
would be exposed.
Vigilance Must Be Maintained
In the meantime in the unvac-
cinated pool of the population the
diseases lie latent, and would bob
up again to ravage the innocent
at the slightest relaxation Of
vigilance.
An overdressed and naughty
dowager said to the clerk in the
toy department-"But the toys
are so old-fashioned. Eyes" re-
piled the clerk, "but the children
are new"
They are also new every year
LOT exposure 10 the contagious
diseases. So every year once more
we must protect them.
1t is almost unnecessary TO pre-
sent arguments for the efficacy Of
the oldest of all vaccinations -
against smallpox. A hundred and
fifty years ago, before the intro
duction Of vaccination, we have
no statistics to tell us the number
Of deaths, but it was rare to see
a face in England unmarked by
smallpox scars. Even as late as
the decade Of 1913-1922 in the
United States there were $40 TO
Clio cases reported.
Today it has almost disappear
ed. In 1912, and again in 1913,
there were no deaths reported.
But still there were 7S9 cases re-
ported in 1913 in the United
States. so a reservoir exists.