Immunization With Bacillus Pertussis Vaccine

That untreated whooping cough may run a mild course has long been known. Before the days of pertussis vaccine Neurath, in the first edition of Pfaundler and Schlossmann's "Handbuch," says: "bed-rest in a fresh, warm, dust-free atmosphere without drafts, not infrequently aborts the disease." And Pospischill, in his book "Pertussis," written after he had seen over 25,000 cases, says: "Most whooping cough patients need no physician, but those who do, need him badly." The outstanding pertussis vaccine study is that of the Danish physicians who injected, in the Faroe Islands, 2,094 patients and 364 children as a prophylactic measure. In the Cutter Lecture, Madsen¹says: "Vaccination has no effect, once the disease has broken out.... It should be used to the widest possible extent as soon as an epidemic threatens.... Vaccination is most effective if completed a week before the disease breaks out.... The effect is greatest in patients