Studies on Epidemic Influenza: Comprising Clinical and Laboratory InvestigationsUniversity of Pittsburgh. School of Medicine
History
Studies on Epidemic Influenza: Comprising Clinical and Laboratory Investigations
University of Pittsburgh. School of Medicine
Influenza; Influenza Epidemic, 1918-1919
The result of the use of a salt suspension pneumococcus vaccine at Camp
Upton was published by Cecil and Austin (37). A study of the
agglutination and protective power of the serum of 42 persons vaccinated
against pneumococcus types I, II and III demonstrated that a definite
immune response could be secured to types I and II but not to type III.
Twelve thousand five hundred and nineteen men were vaccinated at the
camp, and most of the men received three or four inoculations at
intervals of from five to seven days. The men were under observation for
ten weeks, and during that time no cases of pneumonia of the three fixed
types occurred among those who had received two or more injections. In a
control of approximately 20,000 men there were 26 cases of pneumonia of
types I, II and III. The incidence of pneumococcus type IV pneumonia was
less among the vaccinated than among the unvaccinated groups. There
were, however, 17 cases of pneumonia among the vaccinated men, compared
to 173 cases of pneumonia among the controls. The annual pneumonia death
rate for vaccinated groups in the army was 0.83 per one thousand, and
for unvaccinated groups was 12.8.
Fennell reported the use of pneumo-lipovaccine in Washington during the
influenza epidemic, but the number of cases cited by him were too small
to permit of definite conclusions. His results appeared favorable.
Cecil and Vaughan (37a) reported on the results of vaccination with
pneumo-lipovaccine at Camp Wheeler; 13,460 men, comprising 80 per cent.
of the camp, were inoculated. Most of these men were under observation
for 2 or 3 months after vaccination, and there occurred among them 32
cases of pneumococcus types I, II and III pneumonia. In one-fifth of the
camp which was not vaccinated there occurred 43 cases of pneumonia. They
observed that influenza caused a marked reduction in the resistance to
pneumonia among vaccinated as well as non-vaccinated men. Of 155 cases
of pneumonia of all types, which developed one week or more after
vaccination, 133 were secondary to influenza. The death rate among
vaccinated men one week or more after vaccination was 12.2 per cent.,
whereas the death rate for 327 cases of all types of pneumonia which
occurred among unvaccinated groups was 22.3 per cent. The death rate for
primary pneumonia among vaccinated groups was 11.9 per cent., and among
unvaccinated 31.8 per cent. It was found that protective bodies do not
begin to appear in the serum after lipovaccines are given until the
eighth day after the injection. Twenty-four cases of pneumonia occurred
in the first week after vaccination. In their conclusions Cecil and
Vaughan state that there was no evidence whatever that pneumococcus
vaccine predisposed the individual, even temporarily, toward either
pneumococcus or streptococcus pneumonia. Most of the reactions after
vaccination were mild, but one disagreeable feature was that in a
certain percentage there persisted a small fluctuating mass at the site
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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