INOCULATION FOR YELLOW FEVER

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21320, 13 November 1934, Page 19

INOCULATION FOR YELLOW FEVER

SCIENTISTS CLAIM SUCCESS BIOLOGICAL APPKOACIf PARIS, October 5.. Inoculations against yellow fever prepared by Dr. Laigret, of the Tunis Pasteur Institute, and the American, Dr. Sellards, constitute a final victory over yellow fever, according to a report read before the Academy of Sciences by one of the most distinguished French bacteriologists, Professor Nicolle. Although the measures taken against the mosquito have effectively dealt with the yellow fever menace in properly administered tropical towns, the problem of the disease in the country districts and in the jungle remained unsolved, Professor Nicolle explained, until it could be dealt wTth biologically. The microbe of the disease is invisible under the microscope, and the search for a suitable vaccine remained unsuccessful until Theiller observed that mice, otherwise immune, became infected if inoculated in the brain, and that the microbe in the brain of the mouse became so transformed that the mouse's blood could be injected into monkeys otherwise liable to the disease without affecting their health. Looking for Volunteers On this basis Dr. Laigret and Dr. Sellards pursued their researches. The great difficulty was to find people willing to be inoculated experimentally. Three white men were successfully inoculated at the Tunis Pasteur Institute, but the confirmation of Dr. Laigret's hopes was not considered definite. Dr. Mathis, the head of the Dakar Pasteur Institute, finally persuaded —with great difficulty—M. Brevie, the Governor-General of French West Africa, to give Dr. Laigret .an opportunity to experiment on a large scale. Dr. Mathis himself was the first to be inoculated. This summer 3000 white men were inoculated in the colony. The result, it is claimed by Professor Nicolle, was a triumphant success. Two-thirds of the patients were not ill at all, and the remaining third not seriously so. Immunity was secured three days after the inoculation.