DIPHTHERIA ANTITOXIN 



135 



supervening, the probability of final recovery is 

 greater. 



" No definite conclusion can be drawn, for the 

 reasons stated in the body of the report, as to the 

 advantage of administering the whole of the anti- 

 toxin within forty-eight hours of the first injection, 

 or continuing it for a longer period ; but evidence 

 is afforded of the importance of its administration 

 as early as possible in the course of the disease ; 

 the percentage mortality in cases injected on the 

 first and second days of the disease being 10.7, as 

 compared with 25.5 for those first receiving the 

 injection on the fifth or some subsequent day. 



" No conclusion can be drawn, from the cases 

 reported on, as to the amount of antitoxin which 

 should be used to produce the best effects ; but 

 they show that the administration of very large 

 doses is followed by no pronounced ill effects. 



"The injection of antitoxin is responsible for the 

 production of rashes, joint-pains, and possibly for 

 the occurrence of late pyrexia. # In 34.7 per cent, 

 the injections were followed by rashes. Some 

 amount of fever accompanied the rash in 60 per 

 cent. In only 9.4 per cent, of those in whom rashes 

 were observed did death ensue. 



* Since the date of this report, much has been done to 

 obviate these faults of the serum-treatment. Take, for 

 instance, M. Spronck's paper in the Annates de V Institut 

 Pasteur, October 1898 : " Influence favourable du chauffage 

 du serum antidiphterique sur les accidents post-therapiques ; " 

 or the earlier paper, on the same subject, by MM. Beclere, 

 Chambon, and Menard. 



