ANTITOXINS 479 



" Quoted as an evidence of the efficacy of inoculation against diph- 

 theria, the statement is made that there were 2226 fewer cases of 

 diphtheria in New York in 1929 than there were in the preceding year. 

 The number of those dying from the disease here last year was 180 

 less than the number who died of it in 1928. 



" More than 700,000 children received the toxin-antitoxin treatment 

 during the year, making them immune from what not many years 

 ago was a scourge. Approximately 10,000,000 pieces of educational 

 literature, printed in eleven languages, were distributed during the 

 year. The progress made in recent years has warranted the prediction 

 that in five years the disease will be exterminated." 



The Dick test and treatment promise to do as much in combating 

 scarlet fever as the Schick test has done in reducing the death rate 

 from diphtheria. In the Dick test a diluted toxin produced by 

 the bacteria which cause scarlet fever is injected into the arm. A 

 redness indicates that the person is susceptible to scarlet fever. 

 Treatment is then given in the form of subsequent doses of toxin 

 which helps the body to produce its own antitoxin and thus build 

 up an active resistance against the disease. 



Other antitoxins. Tetanus, commonly called lockjaw, once 

 a much-dreaded infection, has now been almost stamped out 

 through the use of a tetanus antitoxin. During the World War 

 soil-infected wounds were treated with this antitoxin and as a 

 result the death rate from tetanus was much lower than in previ- 

 ous wars. An antitoxin was also used successfully against gas 

 gangrene. Antitoxins are also used for certain types of dysentery 

 and against snake venoms. 



Active immunity. Vaccination against smallpox. In 1796 Jen- 

 ner first proved that inoculation with pus taken from a cow was 

 capable of preventing smallpox. Years later Louis Pasteur proved 

 that inoculation of chickens with an old weakened culture of chicken 

 cholera bacteria caused the chickens to be slightly ill for a short 

 time, but made them immune to chicken cholera. Their body cells 

 were stimulated by the weakened germs to manufacture antibodies 

 which soon got the better of the germs and provided immunity. 



So it is with vaccination against smallpox. Smallpox is caused 

 by a filterable virus which means the organisms are too small to 



