290 IMMUNOLOGY 



number of fatal septicemias have resulted from the injection of 

 serum containing virulent organisms. These may result from the 

 presence of virulent organisms in the blood of the donor, acci- 

 dental contamination may occur through carelessness or in some 

 cases infection may be carried in from the skin of the patient. In 

 a previous chapter attention is called to the importance of test- 

 ing the donor's blood for syphilis before it is injected into a 

 patient. 



Measles. — While there is some controversy over the etiology of 

 measles, it appears to be well established that it is a virus disease. 

 Rake and Shaffer (1940) report culturing the virus in the chorio- 

 allantois of the fertile hen's egg. Park (1928) advises that con- 

 valescent serum or plasma be emploj-ed prophylactically in such 

 amounts that the child develops a mild form of the disease since 

 this will confer a lasting immunity. If the child is completely pro- 

 tected, it will possess a transient immunity that will last for two 

 to four weeks or as long as sufficient serum remains in the body. 



Preparation of Convalescent Serum. — The method used at the 

 Willard Parker Hospital for obtaining blood Ls described by 

 Park (1928) somewhat as follows: A sterile 16-gauge Luer 

 needle is inserted into a vein and the blood is collected in a sterile 

 500 c.c. bottle containing 20 c.c. of a 25 per cent sodium citrate 

 solution and 0.3 gram of oxyquinolin sulphate as a preservative. 

 The cells are allowed to settle and the plasma is removed, tested 

 for sterility, and put up in 3 c.c. vials, 6 c.c. vials, and 30 c.c. bot- 

 tles. The latter is for institutional use. A sample of uncitrated 

 blood is obtained for the Wassermann test. 



Partial Rather Than Complete Protection Recommended. — 

 In 1916 Park and Zingher reported satisfactory results in a short 

 series of cases. They found that S c.c. of convalescent serum 

 protected completely, whereas 4 c.c. modified the disease. Since 

 then convalescent serum has been used extensively in New York 

 City with very encouraging results. The great difficulty has been 

 to obtain convalescent serum. Barenberg, Lewis and Messer 

 (1930) compared adult whole blood, convalescent serum and 

 Tunnicliff's immune serum relative to their protective value in 

 measles. They found convalescent serum to be the most effective, 

 although whole blood from adults who have previously had 



