THE BUNDABERG TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19859, 1 February 1928, Page 10

THE BUNDABERG TRAGEDY.

Universal sympathy is aroused by the sorrowful tragedy at Bundaberg in Queensland. Nothing so stirs the hearts of men and women of all classes as the suffering of little children, and when thus suddenly, in circumstances of mystery, a number o£ them are stricken to death, sadnesi, is mingled with a protesting wonder why these things should.be. In this instance, that emotional reaction to the event is apt to take the form of indignant rather than quiet search for the agency of the mishap. There may be some inclined to blame the whole system of inoculation with toxin-antitoxin as a defence against diphtheria. No railing accusation of that kind is justified, whatever may eventually be proved responsible. This very sad event is quite exceptional in all experience of the use of this means of giving immunity from the disease. Since the epoch-making day when infection with antitoxin was discovered to bo an effective means of treating diphtheria, a further advance has been made by using a mixture of toxin and anti toxin to confer immunity from its attack. - It is an application of the principle that prevention is better than cure. The method has been marvellously successful. "Beyond all doubt," says a high authority, "the battle against this disease is definitely won, and any child who now dies of diphtheria dies from human neglect and lack of organisation." Australia and New Zealand, in their use of inoculation with toxin-antitoxin as a means of conferring immunity, are but following a lead given by Britain and America as an outcome of thorough trial. It would be criminal to refuse to employ such means. The deaths at Bundaberg, due to something not yet revealed, cannot be reasonably set against the absolute immunity from diphtheria, conferred by inoculation, of hundreds of thousands of children elsewhere. The testimony of London and New York eannot be gainsaid. It is not the value of the approved method that is challenged by the grievous experience at Bundaberg, but some local happening which introduced an entirely abnormal factor. News of the discovery of this factor will be eagerly awaited wherever the reports of the tragedy may travel.