VACCINES IN TREATMENT OF DISEASE 253 



munization, this misuse of vaccines is repre- 

 hensible and deplorable; it is injurious to the 

 unfortunate patient and demoralizing to the 

 physician. 



There is, however, a distinct field for mixed 

 vaccines. In exposed parts of the body such 

 as the upper respiratory passages and the geni- 

 to-urinary tract the bacteria normally present 

 become complicating factors in any morbid con- 

 dition produced by an infective agent. These 

 bacteria, unable ordinarily to overcome the re- 

 sistance of the body, find the condition result- 

 ing from a lowered vitality suitable for rapid 

 growth; and they become additional offensive 

 factors or lead to further complications. (1) In 

 whooping-cough, for example, the Bordet bacil- 

 lus sets up a condition in the respiratory tract 

 which enables the pneumococcus, influenza bacil- 

 lus, streptococcus, staphylococcus and other 

 bacteria commonly present, to become patho- 

 genic: and they continue to produce symp- 

 toms long after the whooping-cough bacillus has 

 been overgrown. (2) After the first few days 

 in a case of gonorrhea, the staphylococcus is 

 found almost to the exclusion of the gonococcus. 

 Hence, Gonococcus Vaccine will not adequately 



