Vaccine For Rubella; Others On The Way

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32053, 30 July 1969, Page 10

Vaccine For Rubella; Others On The Way

(By

RICHARD D. LYONS)

In one agonising 12month period during the depression of the 1930 s more than a million Americans developed one of six serious, highly contagious and often crippling diseases that caused 25,000 deaths.

Now three of these maladies have become almost medical curiosities. During that depression period there were 150,000 total cases of poliomyelitis, smallpox and diphtheria. So far this year there have been only 66 cases of diphtheria, two of poliomyelitis and no smallpox cases at all. Cases of two other of these diseases have dropped drastically; that of measles from 600,000 then to about 15,000 so far this year, that of whooping cough from 250,000 to 4000. The reason for this dramatic drop has been the development and distribution on a mass scale of vaccines i that prevent the five diseases, and in June the Federal Government licensed for marketing a vaccine that will prevent the sixth, German measles. Mass Immunisation Within two months it is expected that two million doses of the new German measles vaccine will be distributed throughout the nation for a mass immunisation programme that may come none too soon because the disease runs in cycles and another epidemic may be only a year or so away.

During the last great epidemic of German measles in the United States five years ago perhaps as many as 10 million Americans developed the disease, the course of which was relatively mild for most of them. German measles, known medically as rubella, is a viral disease that has innocuous effects such as transient rash and fever. Catastrophic Effect But if an expectant mother develops the disease in the first three months of pregnancy the virus may attack the child’s developing organs, especially his ears, eyes.

heart and brain, and the effects may be catastrophic. One-quarter of these babies will die before birth, while half will have birth defects. The aftermath of the great German measles epidemic of 1964 was 20,000 dead babies and 30,000 survivors who are handicapped in some way. A mass immunisation programme—about 18 million doses of the new vaccine are expected to be distributed in the next year—could prevent a repetition of this tragedy. One of the developers of the new vaccine, Dr Maurice R. Hilleman of the Merck Sharp and Dohtne Research Laboratories, West Point, Pennsylvania, says “simplifying the administration of new vaccines will be the next big step in vaccine development.”

His point, and one that is being echoed by many public health officials, is that although effective. vaccines are available to prevent many diseases, too few people are taking them. For example, a vaccine against regular measles was marketed six years ago but an estimated five million Americans who could benefit from the vaccine have yet to receive it. Federal surveys have found that several million other Americans are not immunised against poliomyelitis, and that in some areas only half of the children of low income families have received D.P.T. vaccine, a three-in-one combination that has been on the market for years. It is designed to prevent diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus.

Scientific Search Dr Hilleman said development is proceeding rapidly of another triple vaccine aimed at preventing German measles, regular measles and mumps. This is undergoing field trials in Central America. “By using such combinations you can cut down the number of visits to the doctor, which is very important in underdeveloped countries where there may not be many doctors, as well as in the United States,” he said. In addition to perfecting new vaccines and combinations of them, virologists are seeking to increase their strength and the length of immunity they confer with chemical additives called ad-

juvants. Another biological chemical called interferon may eventually be able to prevent the common cold, which is caused by hundreds of viruses and therefore all but vaccine-proof. Chickenpox Dr Hilleman, who is one of the nation's most distinguished virologists, said research also is being pursued on vaccines that would prevent chicken pox and some lung infections such as primary atypical pneumonia, parainfluenza and some respiratory diseases. Laboraties elsewhere are attempting to construct vaccines that wbuld prevent other forms of pneumonia, syphilis, and even tooth decay. Rats already have been immunised against dental cavities, as they have against some forms of cancer. But it is generally conceded that a cancer vaccine. if one is developed, is years if not decades away. Geneticists also have been looking into the future and some have predicted that vaccines will be developed to correct inherited defects that may cause, for example, brain damage. This, they say, is the genetic engineering of the twenty-first century.—Copyright. “New York Times” News Service.