THE STUDY OF MEASLES.

Waikato Times, Volume 114, Issue 19117, 30 November 1933, Page 6

THE STUDY OF MEASLES.

That measles can be prevented by giving children who have been exposed to infection doses of the serum of persons newly recovered from the disease has been known in the medical profession for several years. But the difficulty of obtaining supplies of serum was an obstacle to the use of the method and made study of it very difficult.

In view of the persistence of the disease locally, special importance attaches to a report on the epidemic of measles in Britain in/ 1931-1932 which was recently presented to the Lonfion County Council by its medical officer of health. In the report the uses of “ convalescent ” serum and also of “ adult serum ” are described and discussed in detail and there is presented, in addition, a statistical examination of the results arrived at. As the work is based on a relatively large number of cases the conclusions reached are authoritative. Broadly speaking, serum treatment has given disappointing results when used to treat cases of established disease hut has fully justified the hopes reposed in it as means of prevention and mitigation.

Prevention, in this case, means prevention after exposure to infection. If children who have been so exposed are given within a few days of exposure doses of convalescent serum or of the serum of a young immune adult, they will very frequently escape the disease altogether. In such instances immunity will last during several weeks but will not be permanent. If, however, the child who has been treated with serum develops the disease, the measles will be of a mild, or very mild, type, and immunity will be permanent.

It is obvious, therefore, that mitigation rather than prevention is to be aimed at in many if not in the majority of casies. To secure mitigation smaller doses of serum than those used to prevent are given and the doses are given, in some cases at any rate, at a later period in the infection. Thus the child passes through its attack of measles and develops its immunity without incurring the considerable risk of complications. The difficulty of obtaining convalescent serum remains, necessarily, as great as ever; but adult serum is less difficult to obtain and appears to be very effective. In view of the failure of parents to observe quarantine precautions as scrupulously as they might, it is at least their duty to urge the Government and health authorities in New Zealand to take steps to secure a cheap and sufficient supply of serum for future contingencies.