216 MODERN BIOLOGIC THERAPEUSIS 



Justinian's reign, a great epidemic spread over 

 the Roman Empire and, before it terminated, it 

 had destroyed over 50 per cent of the people. 

 In the fourteenth century, the whole of Arabia 

 was stricken with this " black death." Europe 

 and America have been practically free from 

 the disease. In spite of all efforts to stamp it 

 out, plague still breaks out in all its horrors so 

 that at the present time over 500,000 persons 

 die annually from it. 



Vaccination Haffkine's prophylactic con- 

 sists of killed cultures of the plague bacillus in- 

 jected subcutaneously in two doses at intervals 

 of ten days. The first dose contains 500 million 

 bacteria and the second dose 1,000 million. The 

 reactions which follow vaccination with Plague 

 Vaccine are sometimes marked. The symptoms 

 may consist of a rise of temperature to 102 de- 

 grees F., malaise, depression, headache, and 

 swelling and pain at the site of inoculation. The 

 symptoms usually pass off in 24 to 48 hours. 

 The prophylactic vaccine has been used on a 

 large scale by Haffkine in India, by Strong in 

 the Philippines and, to a large extent, by others 

 in many parts of the world during plague epi- 

 demics. 



