The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-08-31


his column.
sure they are protected as far
as possible against contagious
and infectious diseases. Because
with the beginning Of school the
child goes out into the great
world, of new ideas, Of new COM
panious and, unhappily, Of a
brand new set of germs.
While at home and playing in
the neighborhood he has some con-
tact with germs, but he has got
ten used to them. He has develop
ed immunity TO his home and
neighborhood germs. At school
with a thousand new contacts
from other homes and other
neighborhoods he is up against
germs that he isn't conditioned TO
yet.
Schedule of Vaccinations
We cannot protect him against
all of them. We wish, for in
stance, we could protect him
against measles and humps. We
can with certainty, however, pro-
tect the child Of five or six years
against smallpox, diphtheria and
typhoid fever. The schedule is:
SMALLPOX - Vaccinate at 9
months Of age. Repeat at 6 years.
Diphtheria-Give toxoid at IL
months, with a Schick test to see
if immunity has run out at 6
years.
Typhoid feUer-Vaccinate at 5
TO 10 years of age. Repeat in 10
years.
The fear that any Of these vac
cines will do harm is very remote
--non-existent for diphtheria al d
typhoid. Complications more or
less serious occur with smallpox
vaccination, but with modern
methods of tissues culture of the
vaccine they have been almost
completely eliminated. At worst
they occur in less than one-tenth
of one per cent of all children
vaccinated. Mostly they are al
lergic skin reactions, of no serious
consequence.
For two other diseases we have
methods of prevention that while
not proved to be 100 per cent eff
fective are sufficiently so that they
can be recommended. They are:
Whooping cough - vaccination
should be done at 6 months of age.
Scarlet fever - vaccination
should be done at 5 to 4 years Of
age. Given in five doses, five TO
ten days apart.
Personally, and that is the final
test, l can say that if had chill
dren of school age | would un-
hesitatingly give them the benefit
of these whooping cough and scar
let fever vaccinations. They are
certainly completely harmless, and
both diseases are always serious,
and only too often fatal. II any
protection can be given against
them, it should be tried, even II
II is not complete and certain.
Report on New vaccines
As TO how complete and certain
the protection is / find the latest
report on whooping cough in the
Journal Of the American Medical
Association in 194l, by workers
from Michael Reese Hospital,
Chicago. 1t represents q very
thorough piece Of work. Briefly, it
reports that 379 children varying
in age from s months TO 5 years
were inoculated with five doses OF
whooping cough vaccines. Fifty
eight Of these children were sub
sequently known to have been ex-
posed to whooping cough and nine
developed the disease. In a control
group AZ unvaccinated children
were exposed to whooping cough
and 81 developed the disease.
Scarlet fever varies in conta-
giousness and virulence so much
in different epidemics that no sta
tistics having dogmatic value can
be found.
A suggestion still on trial Is
that simultaneous immunizations
TO smallpox, diphtheria and ty-
phoid should be given. Such have
been given with no more reaction
than observed with any one, but
the procedure is still experiment
tai.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
A. R.: Is there any treatmen,
for auricular fertilization besides
digitalis?
Answer: Digitalis is the heaven
sent specific for the condition, but
rest and light diet are neces.
sary adjnnctS.
POST WAR DISCUSSION