The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-10-19

mix all the vaecines against every
thing together and give them all
at one shot and get it over with.
The difficulties in the way of this
are great. The first is the danger.
The mechanism of immunization
is not known sufficiently we'll for
Us to say a priori just how q vac
cine is going to work. All we have
to guide US is experience and we
have learned by rule of thumb,
trial and error in the case Of each
vaccine exactly how much to give.
We know that if we give dose
of twice as much or three times
as much as our experience has
taught US is an effective dose that
we are certain to get reactions
consisting of fever and chills,
weakness and prostration. And it
is just as bad to add two or three
vaccines against different diseases
together in the hypodermic as it is
to add two or three times the dose.
Besides, by experience we have
learned that in the case of some
vaccines a single dose is not pro-
tective. Most Of the cases of ty-
phoid fever which occurred among
troops in the last war were found
TO be in men who in the course Of
shifting around from camp to
camp and in the confusion had not
completed the whole course of
these vaccinations. Thirty-three
out of 237 cases were proved to
be of this character.
Doubling on Immunizations
However attempts are being
made to double up on the immuni-
cations. We already know we can
give them younger than we pre-
viously thought safe and also all
five of the provedly effective ones
typhoid fever, smallpox, diph-
liberia, whooping cough and scar
let fever-can be given over Q
fairly limited period of time.
The latest -eport find IN work
of this kind is on combining diph-
iberia toxoid and whooping cough
vaccine. The work has been con-
Quoted by Drs. Sauer, Tucker and
Marley, Of Evanston, Illinois.
They tried this out on 864 infants
beginning at the age of 8 months.
Disagreeable symptoms were no
more frequently seen than in chill
dren who have been given diph-
iberia toxoid and whooping cough
vaccine separately. The reactions
were transient and mild.
Diphtheria and whooping cough
can be tested by a skin test to see
whether the individual is immune
or not. The two vaccinations are,
therefore, ideal to test out in this
way because we can tell absolute
iy whether when given together
they produce separate immunity.
Successful Procedure
Ninety-seven per cent Of the
children immunized were proved
to be protected against diphtheria
after a proper interval Of time
had elapsed before trying out the
so-called Schick test. Seventy
two per cent were seen by tests
TO have immunity against whoop-
ing cough. But the whooping
cough vaccine is not nearly as sue
cessful when given separately as
the diphtheria toxoid. So we can
conclude that the procedure seems
to be quite a success.
We may look for these slight
improvements in the production of
immunity in children of school
age. Certainly vaccinational i'm
munization is the most important
health measure known and has
prolonged and saved the lives OF
many thousand children.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
A. Kin regard to roofing
nails: I am a roofer and / put the
nails in my mouth and have been
told by other roofers that ! will
get lead poisoning?
Answer: Not unless the nails
have lead in their composition.