430 THE QUESTION OF IMMUNITY AND ANTITOXINS 



Effect of Diphtheria Antitoxin Inoculation 



The following summary of the Antitoxin Treatment of all forms of Diphtheria at 

 the Hospitals of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, 1895-1903, compared with the 

 results obtained before the adoption of that treatment,* affords striking evidence of 

 the efficacy of diphtheria antitoxin : 



The value is particularly noticeable among children. Amongst cases in the first 

 year of life the rate has fallen from 61-8 to 37*8; in the second year from 63'1 to 

 35-4 ; in the third year from 55 '1 to 26 '4 ; in the fourth year from 48 '3 to 22-9 ; and 

 in the fifth year from 39-6 to 20-7. t 



At the Brook Hospital, Shooters Hill, Woolwich (Metropolitan Asylums Board), 

 Dr MacCombie has kept records since 1897 showing the results of the antitoxin 

 treatment on all the cases at the hospital, with special reference to the day of the 

 disease on which treatment began, in order to illustrate the effect of early adminis- 

 tration : 



* Annual Report of Metropolitan Asylums Board, 1902, p. 172. 



t For the most complete account of diphtheria antitoxin and its effects, see Report 

 on the Bacteriological Diagnosis and Antitoxic Serum Treatment of Cases admitted to 

 the Hospitals of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, 1895-6, by Professor Sims Wood- 

 head, M.D. 



