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POTENCY OF VACCINE LYMPH
1067 human opponents in an Genetics is generously represented with large-scale translucent models of a unicellular organism in which movements of the chromosomes can be followed ; and the ground is prepared for the introduction of the concept of mutations and their evolutionary significance. This theme is developed using drosophila as an illustration, but a much more striking example of a genetic variant is provided by a pair of waltzing mice who circle madly round their little arena while the normal mice next door doze peacefully. Genetics leads naturally to embryology, which lends itself well to explanation by models. In other corners are to be found exhibits to demonstrate the role of enzymes in the life cycle, the mechanism of the human and insect eye, and the appearance of common bacteria and viruses. The descriptions of each exhibit are so worded as to be comprehensible to an unitiated viewer, but simplification is surely overdone by such phrases as The earthThe display in general worm is simply a sac full of fluid." is influenced by the artists’ impression of science rather than a scientist’s impression of his own subject. Nevertheless this slightly unreal approach and several inadequacies in labelling and description do not seriously detract from the value of an exhibition which is so thoroughly in step with the times and which explains in simple ways such fundamental concepts.
consistently
outwits
mere
arithmetical game called Nim.
"
Public Health
OFFICER, ANGLO-IRANIAN LTD., ABADAN, SOUTH PERSIA
THE
OIL COMPANY
used in vaccination against smallpox loses its potency under normal storage condiquickly tions’ ; and in the tropics this loss is even quicker. The danger of using impotent vaccine is not only that the vaccination will not "take" but that it may produce an allergic papule indistinguishable from an immediate reaction. At Abadan, a town of some 200,000 inhabitants near the head of the Persian gulf, about 30-60 cases of smallpox are recorded in non-epidemic years ; and during the past nine years there have been two epidemic outbreaks-one in 1942-43 and the other in 1948. Despite every effort, a high level of immunisation cannot be maintained in the population because of the migration which goes on throughout most of the year. Thus when a major outbreak starts it is of the first importance to use vaccine of assured potency ; and in the 1948 outbreak the method described below proved particularly effective. The vaccine was sent by air from Great Britain, packed in ice in vacuum flasks. On arrival in Abadan it it
a
precaution
is
suggested by
the
A driller, middle-aged, tough, and oft-vaccinated, said that he never " took " ; but the cold-stored vaccine, with which he was vaccinated as a routine after his three-yearly
an accelerated reaction which could be desired. About the time of the 1942-43 outbreak, the American army set up a 500-bed hospital about twelve miles from Abadan, and we formed a close liaison. One day we received an s.o.s., and found half of the hospital’s professional staff suffering from modified smallpox. This unit had arrived a fortnight before ; and, coming from a northern State of the U.S.A. where smallpox is non-existent, its members had gathered round the first case of smallpox in the hospital. Anamnestic evidence made it clear that the vaccinations of this unit before it embarked had not been successful, although fortunately all its members had been successfully vaccinated in childhood. A seaman patient in the hospital and a paymaster, the former unvaccinated and the latter with an unsatisfactory vaccination history, both died of haemorrhagic smallpox about the same time.
medical examination, was as
nearly primary
produced as
We know that repeated vaccination with potent vaccine is the means of preventing smallpox. Vaccination should be given the same publicity as the antidiphtheria campaign, and it should be pursued with vigour from infancy throughout the school years ; otherwise there may soon exist in Great Britain a population continuously susceptible to outbreaks of a loathsome, disfiguring, and deadly disease, which can be
prevented.
POTENCY OF VACCINE LYMPH A. ANDERSON M.D. Aberd., D.P.H., D.I.H. DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL
The need for such instances :
following
calf-lymph
I wish to thank Dr. S. D. McClean, chief medical officer to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company Ltd., for permission to
publish
this
report.
Smallpox Modified smallpox was diagnosed in a student from Calcutta who was disembarked at Marseilles from The Ranchi docked on May 8 s.s. Ranchi on April 30. in the Port of London. Warning letters are being sent to the medical officers of health for districts to which contacts are proceeding. In an outbreak of smallpox at Tilburg, Holland, there had been altogether 29 cases up to the beginning of this week. There had also been 1 case at Utrecht and 1 case at Geldrop, which were contacts with the cases at Tilburg.
Statistics for Northern Ireland In Northern Ireland during the year 1950 the infant and maternal mortality rates and the tuberculosis deathrate were the lowest ever recorded. The RegistrarGeneral for Northern Ireland announces that the infantmortality rate was 40 per 1000 live births, and the maternal mortality rate 1’2 per 1000 live births, compared with 45 and 1.4 in 1949. The death-rate from tuberculosis was 48 per 100,000 population. Infectious Diseases in
England
and Wales
immediately to a refrigeration room, where kept at a temperature of 14’F. (In winter the atmospheric temperature at Abadan may rise to about was
taken
was
120 °F in the sun and 70 °F in the shade.) Small circular tins, about 10 in. in diameter and 5 in. deep were manufactured. In the centre of each tin was a circular compartment of the same depth with a diameter of about 1½ in. At the start of the working day the outer compartment was filled with a mixture of ice and salt, and into the central compartment were placed enough tubes of lymph for the number that the vaccinator could deal with in a single day. Strict instructions were issued that any vaccine which remained unused at the end of the day was to be destroyed ; on no account was it to be used even on the following day. With this technique some 85-90% of vaccinations took." Judged by comparison with experience in the epidemic of 1942-43, when this method was not employed, it affords an improved hope of effective vaccination in tropical and subtropical countries.
*
Not
including late returns.
t Not louse-borne ; imported
case.
consistently
outwits
mere
arithmetical game called Nim.
"
Public Health
OFFICER, ANGLO-IRANIAN LTD., ABADAN, SOUTH PERSIA
THE
OIL COMPANY
used in vaccination against smallpox loses its potency under normal storage condiquickly tions’ ; and in the tropics this loss is even quicker. The danger of using impotent vaccine is not only that the vaccination will not "take" but that it may produce an allergic papule indistinguishable from an immediate reaction. At Abadan, a town of some 200,000 inhabitants near the head of the Persian gulf, about 30-60 cases of smallpox are recorded in non-epidemic years ; and during the past nine years there have been two epidemic outbreaks-one in 1942-43 and the other in 1948. Despite every effort, a high level of immunisation cannot be maintained in the population because of the migration which goes on throughout most of the year. Thus when a major outbreak starts it is of the first importance to use vaccine of assured potency ; and in the 1948 outbreak the method described below proved particularly effective. The vaccine was sent by air from Great Britain, packed in ice in vacuum flasks. On arrival in Abadan it it
a
precaution
is
suggested by
the
A driller, middle-aged, tough, and oft-vaccinated, said that he never " took " ; but the cold-stored vaccine, with which he was vaccinated as a routine after his three-yearly
an accelerated reaction which could be desired. About the time of the 1942-43 outbreak, the American army set up a 500-bed hospital about twelve miles from Abadan, and we formed a close liaison. One day we received an s.o.s., and found half of the hospital’s professional staff suffering from modified smallpox. This unit had arrived a fortnight before ; and, coming from a northern State of the U.S.A. where smallpox is non-existent, its members had gathered round the first case of smallpox in the hospital. Anamnestic evidence made it clear that the vaccinations of this unit before it embarked had not been successful, although fortunately all its members had been successfully vaccinated in childhood. A seaman patient in the hospital and a paymaster, the former unvaccinated and the latter with an unsatisfactory vaccination history, both died of haemorrhagic smallpox about the same time.
medical examination, was as
nearly primary
produced as
We know that repeated vaccination with potent vaccine is the means of preventing smallpox. Vaccination should be given the same publicity as the antidiphtheria campaign, and it should be pursued with vigour from infancy throughout the school years ; otherwise there may soon exist in Great Britain a population continuously susceptible to outbreaks of a loathsome, disfiguring, and deadly disease, which can be
prevented.
POTENCY OF VACCINE LYMPH A. ANDERSON M.D. Aberd., D.P.H., D.I.H. DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL
The need for such instances :
following
calf-lymph
I wish to thank Dr. S. D. McClean, chief medical officer to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company Ltd., for permission to
publish
this
report.
Smallpox Modified smallpox was diagnosed in a student from Calcutta who was disembarked at Marseilles from The Ranchi docked on May 8 s.s. Ranchi on April 30. in the Port of London. Warning letters are being sent to the medical officers of health for districts to which contacts are proceeding. In an outbreak of smallpox at Tilburg, Holland, there had been altogether 29 cases up to the beginning of this week. There had also been 1 case at Utrecht and 1 case at Geldrop, which were contacts with the cases at Tilburg.
Statistics for Northern Ireland In Northern Ireland during the year 1950 the infant and maternal mortality rates and the tuberculosis deathrate were the lowest ever recorded. The RegistrarGeneral for Northern Ireland announces that the infantmortality rate was 40 per 1000 live births, and the maternal mortality rate 1’2 per 1000 live births, compared with 45 and 1.4 in 1949. The death-rate from tuberculosis was 48 per 100,000 population. Infectious Diseases in
England
and Wales
immediately to a refrigeration room, where kept at a temperature of 14’F. (In winter the atmospheric temperature at Abadan may rise to about was
taken
was
120 °F in the sun and 70 °F in the shade.) Small circular tins, about 10 in. in diameter and 5 in. deep were manufactured. In the centre of each tin was a circular compartment of the same depth with a diameter of about 1½ in. At the start of the working day the outer compartment was filled with a mixture of ice and salt, and into the central compartment were placed enough tubes of lymph for the number that the vaccinator could deal with in a single day. Strict instructions were issued that any vaccine which remained unused at the end of the day was to be destroyed ; on no account was it to be used even on the following day. With this technique some 85-90% of vaccinations took." Judged by comparison with experience in the epidemic of 1942-43, when this method was not employed, it affords an improved hope of effective vaccination in tropical and subtropical countries.
*
Not
including late returns.
t Not louse-borne ; imported
case.